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A 















THE PANTHEON.—INTERIOR 






























LITTLE ARTHUR'S 


HISTORY OF ROME 

FROM THE GOLDEN AGE TO CONSTANTINE 


BT 

HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH 

\\ 

Author of “Young Folks’ History of Boston,” 
“Zigzag Series,” etc. 


gOiptRUi^V 

NOV 16 1892 y 

. /v ' 


NEW YORK: 46 East 14th Street 

THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. 

BOSTON: 100 Purchase Street 



COFYRIGHT, 1892, 

By T. Y. CROWELL & CO 



PREFACE. 


T HAVE aimed to write this story of the Golden 
Age of Rome and the Roman Republic and 
Empire in such a way as to prepare the young 
reader for an interest and zest in his classical 
studies. Hence I have quoted freely the most 
picturesque stories of Virgil, Livy, Suetonius, and 
have sought to illustrate notable events by the 
vivid words of the Roman orators. In a succession 
of stories and historical explanations, I have hoped 
to lead the young student on to his academic 
and collegiate studies in such a way as to make 
his higher education an agreeable prospect and a 
classical course of study a delight. And to such 
as cannot secure a higher education in the usual 
way, I have sought to give a popular introduction 
to the best classical reading and to awaken in the 
minds of all young readers a love for the best 
literature and art. 

H. B. 


in 





































































































































































































































































































































































CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Story op Virgil, ^Eneas, and the 

Trojan Heroes. 3 

II. The Story of the Alphabet. 18 

III. In the Twilight of the Gods. 22 

IV. The Legend of Romulus and Remus and 

of the Founding of Rome. 25 

V. The Story of the Seven Kings of Early 

Rome . 30 

VI. The Last Stories of the Golden Age ... 40 

VII. Rise of the Roman Republic . 55 

VIII. The Grand Days of Roman Virtue. 63 

IX. The Greek Invasion—War with Elephants 78 

X. Carthage makes War on Rome. 83 

XI. The Conquest of the Eastern World — 

Cesar. 96 

XII. Cesar crosses the Rubicon — Fall of the 

Republic. 105 

XIII. A Day in Rome in the Time of Cato_ 113 

XIV. A Day in Rome with Horace. 119 

XV. In the Gardens of Cicero. 125 

XVI. Cesar Augustus — The Augustan Age of 
the Poets — A School in the Augustan 
Age. 135 


v 
















VI 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER PAGE 

XVII. The Birth of Christianity — The Year of 

Our Lord. 141 

XVIII. Rome in her Glory. 148 

XIX. The Antonines — Marcus Aurelius An¬ 
toninus . 180 

XX. The Church of the Catacombs and the 

Flavian Amphitheatre.. 200 

XXI. Rome celebrates her One Thousandth 
Birthday — The Secular Games — The 

Saturnalia. 208 

XXII. The Popular Stories of Rome. 221 

XXIII. The Triumph of Christianity by the Fall 

of Heathen Rome. 238 









LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

The Pantheon Interior. Frontispiece 

Map of Ancient Pome. . 

ASneas carrying Anchises. 14 

JEneas. IV 

Temple of Yesta. 23 

Portrait of One of the Chief Vestals. 24 

Vesta holding the Palladium and a Sceptre. 24 

The Wolf of the Capitol. 26 

Roman Augur. 27 

Romulus. 28 

Rome seated on her Seven Hills. 29 

Numa Pompilius. 30 

The Bronze Temple of Janus. 34 

Ancus Marcius. 36 

Coin of the March . 39 

Horatius Cocles at the Bridge of the Tiber. 49 

Temple of Castor and Pollux. 60 

Medal commemorating the Battle of Lake Regillus 51 

Virgil.. 52 

Lictors.. 56 

Pr-etorians. 56 

Roman Eagle. 57 

A Roman in a Toga. 68 

vii 
























viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

A Centurion. 59 

The Forum. 60 

A Roman Soldier. 62 

A Roman Matron. 65 

Temple of Jupiter. 73 

Consul between two Laurel-Crowned Fasces. 74 

Roman Cavalry. 77 

Pyrrhus. 78 

Coin of Pyrrhus ■». 78 

Distributing Gifts to the People. 80 

A Catapult. 82 

Carthaginian Coin. 84 

A Roman War-Galley. 86 

Hannibal. 89 

Scipio Africanus. 94 

Balista (Stone-Thrower). 95 

Sulla. 97 

Marius. 98 

Coin of Mitiiridates. 99 

Julius Caesar. 100 

The Forum of Trajan. 102 

Pompey. 103 

Cesar’s Bridge over the Rhine. 104 

Julius Cassar. 106 

M. J. Brutus. 109 

Coin of Julius Caesar. 110 

Death of Caesar. 110 

Insignia of the Quaestors. 115 

The Front of the Pantheon. .. 118 

The Pantheon of Agrippa... 118 

Horace. 119 
































LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. ix 

PAGE 

Palace of the CLesars. 120 

Cicero. 122 

Maecenas. 123 

Temple of Saturn. 124 

Cicero. 126 

House of Cicero at Tusculum. 134 

Augustus. 136 

Caesar Augustus. 136 

A Roman Family. 140 

Temple of Jupiter. 144 

Temple of Capitoline Jupiter. 145 

Rome Mistress of the World. 147 

The Appian Way. 148 

Beating a Slave. 152 

Tiberius. 160 

Claudius. 164 

Agrippa. 165 

Seneca. 166 

Arch of Nero. 173 

Vespasian. 175 

Judea Captive. 177 

Castle of St. Angelo or Tomb of Hadrian. 180 

Hadrian ... . 182 

Trajan’s Column. 182 

Antoninus. 183 

Coin struck by Antoninus in Memory of Faustina 

the Elder. 184 

Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. 184 

Bas-Relief from the Arch of Marcus Aurelius. . 186 

Triumph of Marcus Aurelius. 188 

Corn-Mill. 199 































X LIST OF ILLUS'I'SATIOXS. 

PAGE 

Interior or a Catacomb. 200 

The Colosseum. 204 

Monogram from the Catacombs. 204 

The Colosseum. 205 

A Gladiator. 207 

“Pollice verso”. 208 

“We, who are about to die, salute tiie£ ”. 210 

The Temple of Mars. 214 

The Temple of Apollo. 216 

Circus Maximus. 217 

Circus Maximus. 218 

Sacrifice. 220 

The Temple of Peace . 220 

Aurelian. 222 

Zenobia. 223 

Column of Marcus Aurelius. 224 

A Roman Marriage. 224 

Temple of Concord.. .. 235 

The Arch of Titus. 236 

Trajan in a Chariot drawn by Ten Horses. 237 

Money of Diocletian. 238 

Constantine. 230 

The Arch of Constantine. 248 

Money of Constantine. 262 

Books found at Herculaneum. 256 




























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Part I. 

THE GOLDEN AGE. 

CHAPTER I. — The Story of Virgil, and Virgil’s 
Story of JEneas and the Trojan Heroes. 

CHAPTER II. — The Story of Europa, Cadmus, and 
the Alphabet. 

CHAPTER III. — In the Twilight of the Gods. 

CHAPTER IV. — The Legendary Story of Romulus 
and Remus, and the Founding of Rome. 

CHAPTER V. — The Story of the Seven Kings of 
Early Rome. 

CHAPTER VI. — Classical Stories of the Golden 
Age, and of the Period of the Seven Kings. 


1 







LITTLE ARTHUR’S 


HISTORY OF ROME. 


FROM THE GOLDEN AGE TO CONSTANTINE. 


CHAPTER I. 


The Story of Virgil, and of JEneas and the Trojan Heroes. 
WILL tell you some of the stories of Rome. 



JL The stories of a country are pictorial his¬ 
tory. So when you have read the stories of the 
Roman Empire, you will have learned the most 
important incidents of the history of that empire. 
There is a story that the poets tell of the Wooden 
Horse of Troy: it would require so many incidents 
to make it clear, as to give a picture of the whole 
Trojan War. There is a sad story of Hylas, the 
lost hero of the Argo, which would lead you to ask 
so many questions as to involve the whole narrative 
of the voyage of the Argonauts in search of the 
Golden Fleece. There is a strange legend of (Edi- 
pus, the Swelled Foot, who guessed the Sphinx’s 
Riddle — “ What is that which has four feet, three 
feet, and two feet, but is the weakest when he has 
the most feet ? ” — to tell you the story well would 
bring old Thebes again to view. The simple inci¬ 
dent of Ulysses’ Dog would lead you to inquire out 
the long traditions of Ulysses. 


3 




4 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. I. 


We love the beautiful stories of a nation, and 
those stories are that nation’s best picture. The 
poets tell best the good stories of an old nation. So 
we will follow the poetic writers in the narrative 
of early Borne. Later on in your school life you 
may read these poets in their own language, and 
then the stories may please you all the more for 
knowing something of them now. They will seem 
to answer many questions that cannot be answered 
in a small book like this. The Boman poets were 
delightful story-tellers, and had some of the most 
beautiful stories in all the world to tell. The Latin 
language was the true tongue of poetry, and those 
were happy schooldays when boys and girls read 
Virgil in the musical lines that charmed the great 
Emperor Augustus, for whom the poet wrote 
them. 

The early history of most great nations begins 
with fables of a Golden Age. Dreamland is a 
beautiful country; childhood is always simple, and 
loving, and wise, and the childhood of most races 
is pictured as being a fairyland of stories. 

So, Little Arthur, take my hand, and let us wan¬ 
der together in fancy far away into the child land 
of the great Boman Empire, which was the ancient 
world, and listen to the beautiful stories that the 
old poets tell. Nations, like men, have their child¬ 
hood, manhood, and gray old age. So Borne grew 
and owned the world. So she hobbled on crutches, 
as it were, at last, and became a pile of ruins. The 
families of nations that came after her moved 
towards the west, and have been moving west for 
nearly two thousand years. 

Come, ye poets who lived and dreamed on the 
old farms near the city of marble and gold in 


Chap. I. 


THE STORY OF VIRGIL. 


5 


the days of the Caesars; ye do not grow old, like 
the rest of us ; come, and tell us your tales. 

Hither comes Virgil, who wrote for the great 
Augustus such a tale of the early Roman world as 
the purple emperor loved to hear. Livy may be 
classed among the poets though he wrote in the 
form of prose. 

The world has always loved Virgil, even as the 
Emperor Augustus did. The schoolboys of all times 
have liked him; the schoolgirls not quite as well, 
for did he not say something about women being 
changeable ? You^will know about that when you 
read Virgil. 

But before we are ready for the story we must 
know something about the poet himself. You will 
be pleased to know something about him, for you 
soon will be reading the ^Eneid at school. 

The Story of Virgil. 

Publius Vergilius Maro, for such was the beauti¬ 
ful name of the poet whom we call Virgil, lived in 
the golden days of the great Roman Empire, when 
everything looked bright, though it was the begin¬ 
ning of decay. This period was called the Augus¬ 
tan Age, because Augustus Caesar was emperor of 
Rome. The chief minister and counsellor of Augus¬ 
tus was Maecenas, who was a descendant of the 
family of old Etruscan kings, and who lived in a 
splendid palace on the Esquiline Hill, that was 
called a shining house in the sky. Maecenas' was a 
friend of Virgil and of the poet Horace. He gave 
Horace a villa near the city, which is known as the 
Sabine Farm. He used to visit that poet there. 
Horace wrote poemg of the age in which he lived, 


6 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. I. 


but Augustus desired Virgil to honor Borne by an 
heroic poem on the tales of the founders of the city 
and empire. So, while Horace lived in the present, 
Virgil dwelt in the past. 

Virgil was born near Mantua, 70 b.c., and lived 
in his early years upon his father’s simple farm. 
He always loved the country, even when surrounded 
by the splendors of the court of Augustus. He 
wrote poems of country life called Pastorals. The 
pastorals of Virgil are among the most delightful 
poems in the world. His little estate was once 
taken away from him by war; but Augustus re¬ 
stored it to him, and Virgil’s first Pastoral was 
written to express his thanks to the generous em¬ 
peror. 

His first poems were these pastorals; he wrote 
earliest about those things of which he knew the 
most and loved the best. These were written be¬ 
tween his twenty-seventh and thirty-fourth years; 
a good example to all poets. One should write 
poems slowly, and not begin to publish them while 
too young. These poems were so well written that 
they attracted the attention of Maecenas, and won 
the praise of the court. 

Maecenas, the minister of Augustus, who liked 
the poets, used to give splendid receptions to the 
Boman nobles and men of genius, and at one of 
these receptions there one day appeared the country 
poet, Virgil. He looked very awkward, and doubt¬ 
less felt so, but his fame has been greater than that 
of any man of his age. 

Virgil next wrote his Georgies — poems of the 
herds and fields. 

One day Virgil was paid a great compliment by 
the emperor, who told him that he should begin 


Chap. I. 


THE STORY OF VIRGIL. 


7 


some nobler work for his country than mere pic¬ 
tures of country life. It was under this influence 
that the ^Eneid, or his great poem of the old tales 
of Rome, began to form in his mind. 

Virgil lived at Naples, although he had a house 
near the palace of Maecenas in Rome. He spent 
seven years on the Georgies, all of which might be 
published to-day in the columnar of a single news¬ 
paper. He undertook the uEneid with the same 
painstaking study and care. It seems to have been 
his purpose to put the best years of his life into it. 
He was a modest man, and was never satisfied with 
his own work. 

When about fifty years of age, 19 b.c., Virgil 
went to Greece for the purpose of rewriting his 
great jDoem amid the scenes of which it in part 
treated. He there met the Emperor Augustus re¬ 
turning in triumph from the East. The emperor 
asked him to return with him. The poet fell sick 
on the journey, and died in the fifty-second year of 
his age. 

The fourth pastoral of Virgil is a mystery, and 
is one of the most wonderful poems of the ages. 
It is called Pollio. There lived in the age of Au¬ 
gustus a consul of great influence, named Caius 
Asinius Pollio. He had been a friend of the Em¬ 
peror Julius Caesar, and he was honored with the 
friendship of Augustus. He was an orator and 
a man of letters. 

The pastoral known as Pollio was written in 
honor of this consul some forty years before the 
Christian era. Its subject is the birth of a child 
in whose life the Golden Age, as the good times of 
old used to be called, is to return to the world. 
Some of its most beautiful ideas have been thought 


8 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. I. 


to be borrowed from the Book of Isaiah. For this 
reason Virgil was held to have been one of the 
prophets of Christ. 

There was, according to tradition, an ancient 
sibyl, or prophetess, who lived at Cumae. She 
went from the cave in which she dwelt to Tarquin, 
about whom you will be told, and offered to sell 
him nine books' of her prophecies, or “Sibylline 
Leaves.” Tarquin refused her offer. She destroyed 
three of the books, and after a time visited Tarquin 
again and offered him the remaining six books at 
the same price. The king again refused her. She 
destroyed three other books, and returned again to 
Tarquin with the remaining three books, which she 
offered him for the same price as she placed upon 
the original nine, — a good example for people who 
have poems to sell and must learn that it is quality 
and not quantity that has value. 

Tarquin was so impressed with the old Sibyl's 
perseverance and earnestness of purpose that he 
purchased the poems and found them full of won¬ 
derful prophecies of the destiny of Lome. After 
a time a most beautiful temple was built in Rome 
to hold these Sibylline Leaves. Virgil is supposed 
to have found the prophetic ideas of Isaiah regard¬ 
ing the Christian era in these poems, and so to 
have used them in Pollio , in his picture of the 
Golden Age, which he claimed was to reappear in 
the reign of Augustus and the consulate of Pollio. 

For this reason both Virgil and the Sibyl were 
greatly honored by the early Christian Church. In 
a Latin hymn of the Middle Ages, beginning “ Dies 
irse, dies ilia,” we are told that great Christian 
events were foretold by David and the Sibyl, — 
“Teste David cum Sibylla.” 


Chap. I. 


THE STORY OF VIRGIL. 


9 


This wonderful pastoral caused the works of 
Virgil to be used to tell fates after the manner of 
the Sibylline Leaves in ancient Rome and the Mid¬ 
dle Ages. When princes and statesmen wished to 
consult their fortunes, they used to open the poems 
of Virgil at sundown, and the Latin passage in the 
poems on which their eyes first rested was believed 
to be prophetic. 

The Roman Emperor Severus in his boyhood 
opened Virgil in this way, and his eye fell upon 
“ Thou shalt be our Marcellus.” Charles I. of Eng¬ 
land once consulted the poem in this way, and it 
is claimed opened the book to a passage which pic¬ 
tured his life and doom: — 

“ But let him fall in manhood’s prime, 

And welter tombless on the sand.” 

It was wrong to use Virgil’s poems in this way. 
A good life is the best prophecy of the future. 
This use of the poet’s works was called Sortes 
Vergiliance, or the Lots of Virgil, a very hard term 
to remember. 

There is a picture by a recent artist of the 
Cumsean Sibyl going to Tarquin for the last time. 
It represents her as dark, withered, and old, with a 
terribly earnest face, being half blown along by the 
wind on her way from her cave to the court of the 
king. Her manuscripts are enrolled under her 
arm, and one has but to see the picture to wish to 
know her story. 

And now, little Arthur, you may be interested to 
read the wonderful poem called Pollio , which has 
such a strange and curious history. You will find 
in it some hard words and things not easy to un¬ 
derstand, but from what I have related you will be 


10 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. I. 


able to see in it some of the beauty of the poems 
of Virgil. We shall refer to this poem again when 
we tell you the story of the reign of Augustus. 


Pollio. 

“ Muses of Sicily, lift me for once 
To higher flight; our humble tamarisk groves 
Delight not all; and though the fields and woods 
Still bound my song, give me the skill to make 
Fit music for a Roman consul’s ear. 

“ Comes the Last Age, of which the Sibyl sang — 

A new-born cycle of the rolling years ; 

Justice returns to earth, the rule returns 

Of good King Saturn ; —lo ! from the high heavens 

Comes a new seed of men. Lucina chaste, 

Speed the fair infant’s birth, with whom shall end 
Our age of iron, and the golded prime 
Of earth return ; thine own Apollo’s reign 
In him begins anew. This glorious age 
Inaugurates, O Pollio, with thee; 

Thy consulship shall date the happy months; 

Under thine auspices the Child shall purge 
Our guilt-stains out, and free the land from dread. 

He with the gods and heroes like the gods 
Shall hold familiar converse, and shall rule 
With his great father’s spirit the peaceful world. 

For thee, 0 Child, the earth untilled shall pour 
Her early gifts, — the winding ivy’s wreath, 

Smiling acanthus, and all flowers that blow. 

She-goats undriven shall bring full udders home, 

The herds no longer fear the lion’s spring ; 

The ground beneath shall cradle thee in flowers, 

The venomed snake shall die, the poisonous herb 
Perish from out thy path, and leave the almond there. 

“ But when with growing years the Child shall learn 
The old heroic glories of his race, 

And know what Honor means: then shall the plains 
Glow with the yellow harvest silently, 

The grape hang blushing from the tangled brier, 


Chap. I. 


THE STORY OF VIRGIT. 


11 


J 


And the rough oak drip honey like a dew. 

Yet shall some evil leaven of the old strain 
Lurk still unpurged ; still men shall tempt the deep 
With restless oar, gird cities with new walls, 

And cleave the soil with ploughshares; yet again 
Another Argo hear her hero-crew, 

Another Tiphys steer: still wars shall he, 

A new Achilles for a second Troy. 

“ So, when the years shall seal thy manhood’s strength, 
The busy merchant shall forsake the seas — 

Barter there shall not need; the soil shall hear 
For all men’s use all products of all climes. 

The glehe shall need no harrow, nor the vine 
The searching knife, the oxen hear no yoke ; 

The wool no longer shall he schooled to lie, 

Dyed in false hues ; but, coloring as he feeds, 

The ram himself in the rich pasture-lands 
Shall wear a fleece now purple and now gold, 

And the lambs grow in scarlet. So the Fates 
.Who know not change have bid their spindles run, 

And weave for this blest age the web of doom. 

“ Come, claim thine honors, for the time draws nigh, 
Babe of immortal race, the wondrous seed of Jove ! 

Lo, at thy coming how the starry spheres 
Are moved to trembling, and the earth below, 

And widespread seas, and the blue vault of heaven ! 

How all things joy to greet the rising Age ! 

If but my span of life be stretched to see 
Thy birth, and breath remain to sing thy praise, 

Not Thracian Orpheus should o’ermatch my strain, 

Nor Linus, — though each parent helped the son, 

Phoebus Apollo and the Muse of Song: 

Though in Arcadia Pan my rival stood, 

His own Arcadia should pronounce for me. 

How soon, fair infant, shall thy first smile greet 
Thy happy mother, when the slow months crown 
The heart-sick hopes that waited for thy birth ? 

Smile then, O Babe ! so shall she smile on thee ; 

The child on whom no parent’s smile hath beamed, 

No god shall entertain, nor goddess love.” 


12 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. I. 


Can we wonder that this poem, written to flatter 
Pollio, fifty years before the Christian era, should 
have come to have been looked upon as a prophecy 
of the birth of Christ ? 

I think that you must have learned to like Virgil 
after reading this beautiful poem of peace and good 
will. You are now ready in part to listen to his 
story of the founding of Eome. It is not a true 
story, or only a part of it can be be true, but such 
an one as poetic Augustus and his ambitious court 
loved to hear. For Augustus, the emperor, was 
was very proud of the old fables of early Eome. 

The Wooden Horse of Troy. 

The JEneid, as Virgil’s great poem is called, 
begins with a tale of Troy, taking up the legendary 
story of the Trojan War where the old poet Homer 
left it. ./Eneas was the fabled son of Venus, a 
goddess who lived in the heavens, and by mortal 
birth belonged to the house of old King Priam. 
He was loved of the gods, except by Juno, who 
hated the Trojans because handsome Paris had pre¬ 
ferred Venus to her. The poem begins : “ Arms and 
the man I sing,” and describes the flight of iEneas 
from Troy after the fall of that city. He sets sail 
for Hesperia, or the West, and Juno induces JSolus, 
the god of the winds, to let the winds out of the 
caves, and to shatter the fleet. Neptune, the god 
of the sea, befriends him, and he is saved from 
shipwreck and cast upon the shores of Carthage. 
Here he finds Queen Dido building a city, and 
relates to her the tale of the Wooden Horse, the 
stratagem or trick by which the Greeks overthrew 
Troy. 


Chap. I. 


THE STORY OF VIRGIL . 


13 


The Greeks had besieged Troy in vain. They 
saw that if they could get a party of their own 
soldiers within the walls, to open the gates se¬ 
cretly by night, the conquest might be easy. But 
the question was how to get such a party of sol¬ 
diers into the city. They adopted the following 
plan: They would construct a gigantic horse of 
wood, and pretend that it was an offering to Mi¬ 
nerva, a bountiful goddess. They would fill it with 
soldiers, and sail away and leave it to the Trojans, 
who would be sure to draw it in a great procession 
into the city. So the great wooden horse was made 
and filled with soldiers, and the Greeks sailed away 
and hid themselves behind Tenedos, not many 
miles away. 

When the Trojans saw that the Greeks had 
gone, they rushed out of the city and found the 
great wooden image of the horse, the grand offer¬ 
ing to Minerva that had been left behind. They 
at once proposed to drag it into the city. The 
priest, Laocoon, opposed the removal of the image, 
but there came two huge sea-serpents from Tene¬ 
dos, and crushed him and his two sons. Then the 
Trojans made a breach in the walls, and with 
shouts and songs drew the monster into the city. 

Night fell on Troy after the high festival. The 
Greek fleet came sailing back in the darkness 
from its hiding-place in Tenedos. A spy named 
Sinon undid the fastenings of the horse, and the 
armed Greeks leaped out of the image. With such 
a foe in the heart of the city, Troy fell. The gods 
fled away, according to the fable, and a prophet 
exclaimed, “ Fuimus Troes ” — Troy was, — 

“ We have been Trojans — Troy has been.” 


14 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. I. 


iEneas fled with his wife and son, and his father, 
Anchises, whom he carried upon his shoulders. 
The enemy pursued the family, and the wife of 
iEneas perished. When iEneas went back to look 
for her he met her shade, who told him not to 
grieve for her, for she would be happy in follow¬ 
ing in the other world the glorious things that 



awaited him. He led a band of fugitives to Mount 
Ida, and there built a fleet, and so began one 
of the many migrations or journeys towards the 
West, of which Columbus, after thousands of years, 
became a hero, and which have not yet ceased. 
The world in fable and history has ever been 
marching from the sunrise to the sunset. 

iEneas remained for a time in Carthage, and was 
joined there by his shipwrecked companions. He 
repaired his ships and prepared to depart for Hes- 























Chap. I. 


THE STORY OF VIRGIL. 


15 


peria, or Italy, when Dido endeavored to detain 
him. Under the influence of a little god named 
Cupid the queen had fallen in love with him. 

But the Trojan hero had been sent forth by the 
gods to found a new city, and he stole away by 
night, holding that his mission in life was more 
than love. When Dido saw him sailing away, she 
mounted a funeral pyre, as a great altar of wood 
was called, slew herself with the sword of iEneas, 
and Iris, or the rainbow goddess, came gently down 
and bore away her soul to the shades, or place of 
souls. The story is a very beautiful one, but 
iEneas and Dido really lived, if J£neas ever lived 
at all, centuries apart. But a poet is not obliged 
to follow real dates, and Virgil never allowed any 
ugly facts to stand in the way of his glorious 
dreams. To him the past had only existed for the 
glory of Rome, and any fancy that would reflect 
lustre upon the Caesars, and especially upon Augus¬ 
tus, was, in his view, none too good to be true. 

The poem next describes the Funeral Games, and 
then pictures the ancient Cumaean Sibyl in her cave 
in a rock which is hidden by a temple of an hun¬ 
dred doors. Here, seated on a tripod, she wrote 
her verses and prophecies upon the leaves of trees 
— hence the name “ Sibylline Leaves.” When she 
was under inspiration, or was writing, she is thus 
described by a poet: — 

“ Her visage pales its hue ; 

Her locks dishevelled fly ; 

Her breath comes thick ; her wild heart glows, 
Dilating as the madness grows.” 

And then: — 

“The seer, impatient of control, 

Raves in the cavern vast.” 


16 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. I. 


When she uttered her prophecies, all the hundred 
doors of the temple flew open. She seems to have 
been a very lively old woman. 

iEneas asked the Sibyl to conduct him to the un¬ 
derworld, or the shades, that he might there meet 
with his ancestors and his aged father, Anchises, 
who had died on the journey. She led him over a 
dark river, with the ferryman of the shades, and 
went to the Mourning Fields, where he met Dido, 
who turned away from him in silence. He then 
visited the Field of the Heroes and beheld the 
mighty men of old. In the Elysian Fields in the 
shades he found his father, Anchises, who unfolded 
to him the founding, rise, and glory of Rome. The 
shade of Anchises, you may well believe, glorifies 
the Emperor Augustus : — 

“ Augustus Caesar, god by birth, 

Eestorer of the Age of Gold, 

In lands where Saturn ruled of old.” 

iEneas ascended again to the upper world, re¬ 
joined his fleet, and sailed from Cumae to Italy. He 
entered the Tiber and landed at Latinum. It had 
been prophesied that when the Trojans should come 
to the land where they were to found an important 
nation, they should eat their own tables. As they 
moored their galleys under the trees of Latinum, 
they plucked the wild fruits and laid them on 
wheaten cakes for tables. After eating the fruits 
they began to eat the cakes. “We are eating our 
tables,” said the boy lulus, iEneas’s son. 

Such is the fable of the founding of the Latin 
Empire, and the twilight legend of Rome. It is 
very pretty as a story, and one could wish that 
much of it were true. 


Chap. I. 


THE STORY OF VIRGIL. 


17 


The uflneid closes with an incident which every 
boy will tind worth remembering. As iEneas was 
about to go into his last combat in his contests for 
Latium, he parted from his son in this scene and 
with these words : — 

“ In his mailed arms his child he pressed, 

Kissed through his helm and thus addressed: 

‘ Learn of your father to he great, 

Of others to he fortunate ” 



iEneas. 


18 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. II. 


CHAPTER II. 

The Story of the Alphabet. 

W E are still in story-land. The descendants 
of iEneas built a city called Alba Longa, 
which was some twelve miles from the Seven Hills, 
where Romulus is said to have founded Rome, 
about which event we will tell you in another 
chapter. 

Latinus, the king of the new country, received 
iEneas kindly, as you will be told in the Latin 
Reader, and he gave him his daughter Lavinia in 
marriage. lulus, the son, to whom iEneas had 
said, — 

‘ ‘ Learn from thy father to be great, 

From others to be fortunate,” 

succeeded his father as ruler, and the house of .Eneas 
reigned for fifteen generations. Alba Longa was the 
beginning of the city of Rome, though Rome itself 
in the reign of the house of Eneas was, according to 
the Latin tradition, only a place of blue hills, among 
which the Tiber ran under sunny trees, beneath 
purple skies. 

We are now in Europe, or Europa, as the country 
was then called. We have told you the legend of the 
Greek migration. Eneas was an early Columbus, 
and Italy was the West. The nations were beginning 
to move ever nearer and nearer to the last lands of 
Hesperia, following the course of the. sun, through 
thousands of years. 


Chap. II. THE STORY OF THE ALPHABET . 


19 


But you could not read this tale were it not for 
letters,—the letters of the alphabet. Now let¬ 
ters are symbols, or representatives, of sounds. 
They are pictures of sounds, and sounds are often 
tone pictures of things. In the early world, and 
among rude nations of to-day, picture-writing lies 
at the beginning of recorded history. 

The story of the invention of the alphabet is like 
that of iEneas, —very pretty; but only a part of it 
can be true. 

There once reigned in Phoenicia, according to the 
story, a king named Phoenix, or Agenor, who had 
a very beautiful daughter named Europa. When 
the god Jupiter saw her he loved her, and came 
down to earth to woo her. He at first changed 
himself into the form of a bull, that she might not 
know him. 

One day as Europa was gathering flowers on a 
green mead near the seashore, Jupiter, in the form 
of a bull, approached her, “ breathing saffron from 
his mouth/’ Europa thought the animal very tame, 
and she crowned him with flowers. The animal 
received the gifts gently, and she ventured to 
mount his back. She wished to take a ride. He 
began to run, plunged into the sea, swam to Crete, 
a distant island, changed into a god, and, after this 
curious journey, claimed the beautiful Europa as 
his bride, under a plane-tree. 

Now, the lovely Europa, whose beauty called 
down the great god of the skies, had a brother 
named Cadmus; and King Phoenix, of Phoenicia, 
bade him go in search of his lost sister, and never 
to return until he had found her. His mother and 
brothers went with him, but their search was in 
vain. Fearing that he would be punished if he 


20 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. II. 


returned without her, Cadmus resolved to settle in a 
foreign country, and he founded the city of Thebes 
in Greece. It is said that in despair of finding 
Europa he went to consult the oracle of Delphi, 
and that the oracle told him that he must wander 
until he should find a certain cow ; he must follow 
the animal, and where she should first lie down he 
must found a city. He found the prophetic cow in 
Phocis, followed her to Boeotia, and there began the 
city of Thebes, where the poor tired cow lay down 
to rest, 1550 b.c. Those were queer times which 
fancy made, but it is delightful to read of them. 
We do not have any such cows now. 

Cadmus invented an alphabet of sixteen letters, 
which he brought into use in Greece. He is sup¬ 
posed to have learned the art of making it in Phoe¬ 
nicia, before his wanderings. This alphabet was 
the foundation of the Greek, Latin, and Arabic 
alphabets. The Hebrew alphabet is quite like 
the Phoenician. There have been some four hun¬ 
dred alphabets in the world, and they all trace 
their origin to Cadmus and this curious story, which 
is probably partly true, notwithstanding the fable. 

The old Phoenician alphabet and writing made 
a very curious manuscript. The words first pro¬ 
ceeded from right to left, and turned on the page, 
like the furrow of a man ploughing. Something 
like this: — 

srettel eht evali eY” 

Cadmus gave.” 

The alphabet of Cadmus grew. In the Greek 
period of early learning it came to consist of twenty- 
four letters. Prom Greece the alphabet came into 
Italy, and the Latin alphabet was the beginning of 
the schools of the Western world. So, if the pretty 


Chap. II. THE STORY OF THE ALPHABET. 


21 


story were true, which one almost wishes it to be 
on the part of the brother, Cadmus did great good 
in his journeyings for Europa, his lost sister. A 
person who honestly seeks some good thing is likely 
to find another equally good. We always liked the 
legend of Cadmus. He was the fabled father of 
schools, and the legend is a worthy one. 


24 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. III. 


into a man, and met her among the woods and 
streams, and, notwithstanding the vow that she 
had made, she became his bride. She was the 
mother of two sons, twins, who were named Rom¬ 
ulus and Remus. 



Vesta holding the Palladium and a Sceptre. 



PORTRAIT OF ONE OF THE CHIEF VESTALS 














26 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. IV. 


and birds, they lived until they were found by an¬ 
other shepherd, also named Faustulus, who watched 
the flocks of the king. He took the babes to his 
home, and brought them up as his own sons. 

The two sons of Mars thus grew up amid the 
fields and forests, and became handsome, brave, 
and superior men. They surpassed the other herds¬ 
men in arts and arms, and became leaders among 
them. 

The grandfather of the twins, whom King Amu- 
lius had deprived of the throne, was named Numitor. 
He was the brother of Amulius, and lived to be very 
old. There came to be a rivalry between the shep¬ 
herds of Numitor and the herdsmen of Amulius, 
and in the contests that followed Remus was made 
a captive, and brought to Numitor, and Romulus 
followed him. 

Numitor was greatly impressed with the godlike 
appearance of the youth, and asked in regard to his 
origin, birth, and early life. 

“ My name is Remus,” said the youth. “ I was 
so named by a shepherd named Faustulus of the 
king’s herdsmen. I have a twin brother named 
Romulus. We were found in infancy on the banks 
of the Tiber.” 

The city that the Trojans had founded continued 
to be the residence of the sylvan kings, and was 
known as the Long White Town (Alba Longa). 
Here Amulius lived. His selfish nature had grown, 
and made him very offensive to the people, who now 
desired a new king. In this state of affairs, Faus¬ 
tulus, the shepherd, revealed to Numitor the early 
history of Romulus and Remus, and brought to the 
old man the cradle or ark in which the babes had 
been found, and a messenger of Amulius pointed 







































THE WOLF OF THE CAPITOI 









































































Chap. IV. 


THE FOUNDING OF ROME. 


27 


out the ark as that in which the children of Ehea 
had been given to the Tiber. 

When Romulus and Remus came to know that 
they were the sons of Rhea Silvia, the daughter of 
Numitor, who was the real heir to the throne, and 
that they stood in the succession to the sylvan 
kings, they summoned their rustic followers and be¬ 
sieged Alba Longa' and slew Amulius, and restored 
their grandfather Numitor to his place among the 
sylvan kings. The story of Amulius’s arts and 
treachery was thus disclosed, and when the people 
knew the terrible tale they all turned to old Nu- 
mitor, and were glad that Romulus and Remus 
were to succeed him as twin kings. 

One of the first acts of Numitor was to set apart 
a portion of his territory in which Romulus and 
Remus might build a city for themselves. The 
two brothers chose the seven hills on the Tiber as 
the site of their city, where 
they had been landed by the 
ark and cared for by the 
she-wolf and the woodpecker. 

Here the two princes founded 
the city of Rome, and brought 
their bands of followers 
there. 

But now comes a sad part 
of the curious story. The 
two brothers began to dis¬ 
agree and to quarrel with 
each other. Numitor en¬ 
deavored to reconcile their 
disputes by appealing to the 
augury, or the flights of birds. 

But the twins differed in regard to the meaning of 
the flights of the vultures of the Appenines. 



Roman Augur. 



28 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. IV. 


One day, as Romulus was surveying the walls of 
the city, Remus began to deride him. He leaped 
over the wall, saying: — 

“ This is the way your enemies will do.” 

“ And this is the way that we will kill them,” 
answered Romulus, and he struck his brother dead 
to the ground. 

Romulus was terribly smitten in conscience when 
he saw what he had done. He refused food, and 
could not sleep. He made 
a splendid funeral for Re¬ 
mus, and instituted a re¬ 
ligious rite, so that his 
brother’s ghost would not 
haunt him. 

The city that Romulus 
had founded was full of 
men without wives. The 
prince saw that he must 
make it a city of homes. 
How were the men to be 
provided with wives ? 

There were lovely young 
women among the Sabine 
tribes. Romulus resolved 
to make a great fair, to in¬ 
vite the Sabines to the 
shows, and to capture the 
handsome young women, and drive their fathers 
and mothers home again. He carried out this 
strange plan. But the Sabines returned and waged 
war upon him, and they were finally urged to go 
away by the captive wives, who had come greatly, 
to enjoy that kind of life. 

Romulus divided the people into tribes. The 



Chap. IV. 


THE FOUNDING OF ROME. 


29 


heads of the tribes he constituted a senate. These 
senators became the Patricians, or fathers, of Rome, 
and their descendants the aristocracy or leading 
families of the city. 

After a long time Romulus became unpopular 
with the senate. He was one day with the sena¬ 
tors in a lonely place when there arose a terrible 
tempest. He was never seen again. The senators 
said that he ascended to the gods in the storm, in a 
flash of fire; but it was believed that the senators 
slew him, and cut up his body, and carried away 
his limbs under their cloaks, and buried them in 
the lake near where they were gathered when the 
tempest arose. Such is the poetic story of the 
founding of Rome. 



Rome seated on her Seven Hills. 





30 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. V 


CHAPTER V. 

(THE END OF THE GOLDEN AGE.) 

The Story of the Seven Kings of early Rome. 

T HE new city of Rome among the seven hills 
of the Tiber had seven kings before the great 
period of the commonwealth called the Roman 
Republic. Of these seven kings, Romulus, accord¬ 
ing to tradition, was 
first. He became king 
naturally as a leader of 
armed bands and of the 
people. He was suc¬ 
ceeded by Numa Pom- 
pi lius, the law-giver, 
and we are still in the 
Golden Age. Numa was 
a Sabine, for it had been 
agreed among the people 
that if the Sabines would 
join their fortunes with 
the founders of the new city there should be Sabine 
kings. 

You will ask me where the beautiful legends and 
stories that I am telling, or am about to tell, may 
be found in the early writers. You may like to 
read them in the original language. 

If you shall have a classical education, you will 
read a book in Latin called “ Livy.” Titus Livius 




Chap. V. THE SEVEN KINGS OF EARLY ROME. 31 


Patavinus, or “ Livy,” was one of the vivid writers 
of the court of Augustus, and lived in the social 
circles of Virgil, Horace, Maecenas, and of the 
writers and poets who delighted to extol the virtues 
of ancient Pome. He was born about 59 b.c. 
Horace, the Roman poet, was some five years older 
than he, and Virgil, ten. He came of a family that 
had given consuls to Rome in the great eras of the 
Republic. He grew up in the country, but his 
genius introduced him to the court of Augustus, 
the great book-loving emperor, or Caesar. He was 
the author of the Annals of Rome, a work in which 
every old legend that offered glory to Roman his¬ 
tory was treated as true because the poetic historian 
thought it ought to be so. Livy was an artist, a 
poet, a story-teller, rather than a careful inquirer 
into facts, — a man of happy fancies and dreams. 
Modern history is strongly inclined to follow “ Livy,” 
notwithstanding he mingles fancies with fact, and 
wrote what the ambitious Emperor Augustus would 
best like to read. 

You may like to read some specimens of Livy’s 
pictured pages, and learn how a Roman presented 
incidents of the long past. 

After the building of Rome it was determined to 
destroy the first Rome, or Alba Longa, which had 
been the city of the sylvan kings who had followed 
HDneas and reigned for a period of some four hun¬ 
dred years. The story of the overthrow of the 
“ Long White Town ” is thus told by Livy: — 

“ Then the legions were marched up to raze the 
city. When they entered the gates, there was 
none of the tumult or panic which is wont to be 
seen in captured towns, where the gates have been 
forced, or the walls breached by battering-rams, or 


32 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. V. 


the citadel taken by storm; when the shouts of the 
enemy are loud, and the rush of armed troops 
through the city lays everything waste with fire 
and sword. But a gloomy silence, and a sorrow 
that found no voice, so overwhelmed the hearts of 
all, that for very terror they forgot what they 
meant to carry away and "what to leave behind; 
losing all presence of mind, they kept questioning 
each other, now standing idly in their doorways, 
now wandering helplessly through their houses, 
which they knew they should never see again. 
But when the shouts of the mounted guard, who 
were ordering them to quit, came nearer, and they 
heard the crash of the buildings which were already 
being pulled down in the outer quarters of the 
town, and saw the dust rising from distant points, 
and filling the whole place as it were with an over¬ 
shadowing cloud—then, snatching up and carrying 
off each what came first to hand, they made their 
way out, leaving their hearths and household altars, 
and the roof under which they had been born and 
brought up, and filled the roads with a continuous 
stream of emigrants. The sight of each other’s 
misery renewed their tears; and piteous were the 
wailings heard, especially from the women, as they 
passed the temples they so venerated, now sur¬ 
rounded with guards of soldiers, and left, as it 
seemed, their very gods in captivity. When all 
the Alban population had quitted the place, the 
Romans levelled to the ground every building, 
public and private, and gave to utter destruction 
in a single hour the work of four hundred years, 
the time during which Alba had stood. Only the 
temples of the gods were left untouched, for such 
had been the king’s command.” 


Chap. V. THE SEVEN KINGS OF EARLY ROME. 33 


You will like to see from time to time in this 
history the stories of such a picture-painting writer, 
and I shall hope to awaken in you an interest for 
the study of Livy when you are a little older. 

Numa reigned for forty-three years. His reign 
was so peaceful and full of delightful things that 
it has been called the Second Golden Age. What 
Alfred the Great is to English history, and Jeffer¬ 
son to ours, Numa was to the Roman. We really 
hope that Numa lived and did the things recorded 
of him; it would be a great misfortune not to have 
it so. We like to believe that good stories are true, 
because they might have been so, and perhaps ought 
to have been. 

Numa was not chosen king from any warlike 
deeds, but because his character was so tender and 
human as to appear also well-nigh divine. He had 
married Tatia, a daughter of King Tatius, of the 
Sabines. He greatly loved his wife, but she died. 
After her death Numa wandered from grove to 
grove, from stream to' stream, offering sacrifices to 
the gods, and seeking communion with the heavens 
where beautiful beings like Tatia do not die. 

In his pious wanderings he went to a green grove 
near the city where a fountain gushed out of a rock. 
Here a water nymph named Egeria came to comfort 
him and offer him counsel, and he used to go to visit 
her there, and under her instructions he became 
ver}^ amiable and wise, and loved all the people, 
and lived only to do them good. 

The Romans doubted that it was the lovely water 
nymph who made Numa so good and wise. When 
the goddess knew this she was grieved, and deter¬ 
mined to give the people a proof of her power. She 
did this very prettily; for when Numa next gave 


34 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. Y. 


a feast she changed all the earthen plates on the 
tables into gold. Alas! we have no such proofs 
now. 

Numa had a shield that came down from heaven, 
in those days of nymphs, plenty, and peace. He 
caused eleven other shields to be made like it, and 
these shields were hung in the Temple of Mars, and 
were yearly borne through the city on festal days. 
Numa is said to have invented the calendar, or a 
kind of almanac, and to have divided the year into 
twelve months. He erected altars everywhere, and 
among them one very useful one, to Good Faith, 
which was intended to teach the Komans to speak 
the truth, and to keep their word, whatever might 
be the consequence. How well the Komans learned 
and fulfilled this lesson of conscience will be told 
you later on, in stories like Kegulus, and heroes to 
whom honor was dearer than life. 

Numa was also a reformer of the old religion. Jove 
loved him, and the king had such influence with 
Jove that he persuaded him 
to accept no more sacrifices 
of men and women, and to 
forbid human blood to be 
shed. There was in Rome 
a temple called Janus. It 
was to be open in war and 
closed in peace. Numakept 
the temple closed during 
all his reign. He was a 
The Bronze Temple of Janus, king of peace. 

When the time came for 
him to die, he just all faded away, and disappeared, 
as solid water turns to mist, and the mist drifts off 
in the sun and makes golden the skies. The nymph 







Chap. V. THE SEVEN KINGS OF EARLY ROME. 35 


Egeria wept for the good king until she became a 
fountain. The fountain used to be shown as a 
proof of the wonderful story. It is gone now, and 
so have all beliefs in the lovable goddess. We 
know that the nymph merely represented the good 
feelings of the old king’s heart. 

Tullus Hostilius succeeded Numa, and war came 
again, and there was no good nymph Egeria in the 
fountain of his heart. He made an agreement with 
the Albans for a union of the two kingdoms, but a 
dispute arose as to which city, Home or the Alban 
capital, should have the place of honor in the league. 
The Albans had for champions, three brothers 
born at a birth, called the Curatii, and the Romans 
also had three champions called the Horatii. These 
warriors were all young men, and the pride of 
their own states. It was proposed to settle the 
dispute in regard to the place of honor of the two 
cities by a battle between the six champions. 

Now, one of the Horatii had a beautiful sister 
who was loved by one of the Curatii, and you may 
well ask if her heart in the contest would be true 
to her Alban lover or her Roman brother. We shall 
see. The battle was fought on a plain between the 
two armies. Two of the Horatii were killed, and 
all of the three Curatii were wounded. The Hora- 
tius who was left continued to fight the Curatii, and 
by pretending to run away killed them one after 
another, saying as they fell, “To the glory of 
Rome; to the glory of Rome ! ” 

A wreath was put upon his head when the con¬ 
test was over, and he was conducted back to Rome 
in triumph, having gained the throne of supremacy 
for that city. 

Amid the triumph, the flowers, the dancing and 


36 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. V. 


song, his lovely sister, whose lover he had over¬ 
thrown, came out to meet him. The girl had made 
a garment for her lover, with her own hands. As 
she approached the gay procession and heard Hora- 
tius hailed as the champion of Rome, she saw a 
bloody garment hanging over his shoulders. She 
recognized it as the one she had made for her 
lover. She uttered a cry of agony, and gave vent 
to her sorrow by tears. Horatius came up to her 
and saw her grief. He lifted his hand and struck 
the poor girl dead, saying, “ So perish every Roman 
who mourns the death of an enemy.” 

We are getting out of the Golden Age now into 
very practical times, when things were as they 

were told, and not as 
poets in the mellow 
days of Augustus fan¬ 
cied them to be. 

Hostilius was struck 
by lightning. The Ro¬ 
mans said that Jove 
hurled a thunderbolt 
upon him on account of 
his many wicked deeds. 

Ancus Martius was 
next made king, the son 
of good Numa’s daugh¬ 
ter. He built the first 
bridge over the Tiber. 

The history of Rome is that of bridges, for it 
was by the pontoon bridge that the Roman army 
found its way to all the eastern world. The Latin 
words “pontiff” and “pontificate” and “pontificial” 
are associated with bridge-building (pons, a bridge, 
and facere, to make). There was a sacred college in 



Chap. Y. THE SEVEN KINGS OF EARLY ROME. 37 


ancient Rome which taught and controlled the arts 
of bridge-building. It was said to have been in¬ 
stituted by the good Numa. It was known as the 
Pontifex, and its president, or chief priest, was 
called the Pontifex Maximus, or Sovereign Pontiff. 
This title came to be applied to the emperors, and 
at last to the pope of Rome. In the Middle Ages 
the building and guarding of bridges was held to 
be among the most worthy of good works, and 
monasteries or religious houses were built near 
such places to protect them and to guide the travel¬ 
lers. So the time was when the Sovereign Bridge- 
Builder was one of the noblest offices of the world. 

In the days of Ancus Martius there came to 
Rome a family named Tarquin. The founder of 
the family in Italy was a Greek, and according 
to an old tradition, he brought the art of writing 
into the new country. His eldest son, with his 
wife and his little boy, Lucius Tarquinius, made 
a journey from an Etruscan town to Rome, intend¬ 
ing to settle in the new city if the gods were favor¬ 
able. Just as the family came in sight of the seven 
hills of the Tiber, the shadows of eagles’ wings 
drifted across the sun, and the bird of Jove, as the 
eagle was thought to be, settled down from the sky 
and seized the cap of little Tarquin and lifted it 
into the air, but brought it down again and re¬ 
placed it on his head. 

“ My son will one day become a great king,” said 
Tanaquil, who was little Tarquin’s mother, and who 
foresaw in the descent of the eagle the coronation 
of her son. And so it was. Little Tarquin grew 
up in Rome and became a great warrior, and when 
Ancus died the Roman people entrusted to him 
their fortunes. He established in Rome the old 


38 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. V. 


Greek games, and was the first king to wear a 
purple robe. 

There was a divinity in ancient Rome named 
Lar, a household spirit. One day, says a poetic 
fable, a beautiful slave girl in the house of Tarquin 
was making-an offering to Lar, when the god ap¬ 
peared to her, and she loved him and became his 
bride, and bore to him a son, who was named Ser- 
vius Tullius. 

Another fable says that once, when the boy was 
sleeping, flames of fire appeared in the place where 
he was cradled and played around his head. Tana- 
quil was told of the dancing flames. 

“He will become great,” said the queen, and 
she caused one of the royal family to be given him 
in marriage. When Tarquin died Servius Tullius 
succeeded him, and became one of the great kings 
of the traditions of Rome. He was probably of 
obscure origin and acquired his influence through 
his personal bravery and force of character. 

Numa gave the people their religion. Servius 
Tullius made for them their laws. The Patricians, 
as the senatorial families were called, were the 
governing power. Servius Tullius was a friend of 
the common people, or Plebeians. 

That these might not be oppressed by the Patri¬ 
cians, he caused a law to be enacted that the senate 
could not make a decree without the consent of the 
Comitia, or the assembly of the people. He thus 
established the principle of republican liberty 
which afterwards became the glory of the Roman 
Republic and of the world. He built a great wall 
around the city, and one of the stones from this 
wall was sent as a present to Abraham Lincoln by 
distinguished citizens of Rome. President Lincoln, 
it is said, from a modest feeling, hid the stone in 


Chap. V. THE SEVEN KINGS OF EARLY ROME. 39 


a cellar of the White House, and he perhaps little 
dreamed that his own history, which had thus far 
resembled that of Servius Tullius, would also end 
like the noble Roman’s. Servius, seeing the future 
dangers to the Roman people that would arise from 
a line of kings, advocated a plan by which the 
people should yearly choose their own ruler. This 
plan for a republic angered the house of Tarquin 
and the Patricians, and one of the Tarquins struck 
Servius dead, and the senate made him king. He 
is known as Tarquinius Superbus, or Tarquin 
the Proud. He was a hard king, and the people 
mourned for the good Servius, who had made him¬ 
self a martyr to their cause, and wished that his 
days would return again. 

We have told you the story of the Cumsean 
sibyl. She is supposed to have lived in the days 
of Tarquin the Proud. 

The reign of Tarquin became so oppressive and 
unjust that the Roman people formed a plan to 
expel the Tarquins as a house of tyrants and to 
adopt the government that had been proposed by 
wise Servius Tullius. They arose as one body and 
drove the Tarquins without the walls, and with the 
expulsion of the Tarquins the Golden Age of tra¬ 
dition and fable begins to fall away and the great 
Roman Empire to arise. 



Coin of the Marcii. 





40 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. VI. 


CHAPTER VI. 

The Last Stories of the Golden Age. 

rTIHE Golden Age of Rome became very human 
-±. in its last years. The good gods seem to pass 
away and leave the world to the warlike deities. 
To speak plainly, when the times of the old poets’ 
fables began to change into real history the selfish¬ 
ness of the human heart begins to appear. 

One of the darkest days in the lingering days of 
the Golden Age was that on which the daughter of 
Servius Tullius, the beloved Commons King, rode in 
her chariot over the dead body of her father. Her 
name was Tullia — “the wicked Tullia” she was 
justly called. She inherited the bad blood of the 
Tarquins from her mother. She caused her first 
husband to be murdered, and then married his elder 
brother, Lucius Tarquinius, who aspired to the 
throne of her father. He caused his own wife to 
be killed that he might marry her. A bad race 
were the Tarquins, and they all came at last to an 
evil end, as you shall be told. 

She plotted with her bad husband to murder her 
old father, the good Servius Tullius, and when the 
old man had been stricken dead, and his body flung 
into the street before the steps of the senate-house, 
this undutiful daughter, the wicked Tullia, did the 
brutal deed which filled the people of Rome with 
horror. Livy, the picture-writing historian, thus 
gives the horrid tale in vivid words: — 


Chap. VI. LAST STORIES OF THE GOLDEN AGE. 41 


“ It was believed that this was done at the insti¬ 
gation of Tullia, inasmuch as she did not shrink 
from the wickedness that followed. At least it is 
an admitted fact that she drove in her chariot to 
the Forum, unabashed by the crowd of men, and, 
summoning her husband from the senate-house, was 
the first to hail him ‘king.’ When he bade her 
begone from such a scene of tumult, and she was 
making her way home, she ordered her chariot to 
turn to the right down the Orbian Hill, so as to 
drive out through the Esquiline, when the man 
who drove her horses suddenly stopped in horror, 
checked the reins, and pointed out to his mistress 
the body of the murdered Servius lying in the road. 
Whereupon a foul and inhuman deed is said to have 
been done, and the place serves yet as a memorial 
of it (men call it the Accursed Quarter, Vicus 
Sceleratus ), along which in her madness, urged by 
the avenging shades of her murdered sister and 
husband, Tullia is said to have driven her chariot 
over the corpse of her father, and to have carried 
home on the blood-stained vehicle — nay, on her 
very dress and person — the traces of his slaughter, 
to defile the household gods of herself and her new 
consort; and that from the wrath of those offended 
powers the reign which had been so ill begun was 
speedily brought to a like violent termination.” 

This deed, says Livy, made the name of “king” 
hateful to the Roman ear. It showed what ambi¬ 
tion for the royal power might do, and how brutal 
such an ambition might make the heart. The people 
now saw the wisdom of the good Tullius in propos¬ 
ing the plan that they should govern themselves by 
an annual election, in which they would be free to 
choose the best men to administer the laws. In 


42 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. VI. 


that case the rulers would be at least as good as the 
majority of the people. The Roman Republic began 
in the ideas and plans of Servius Tullius, and our 
own republic and all republics may be said to have 
sprung from the brain of the Commons King of 
Rome. They did well to put the stone from the 
Avail of Servius Tullius into the tomb of Lincoln, 
our own great Commoner. You will see it there, 
when you go to Springfield, Illinois, some day. 

But there are very heroic stories that are told of 
the last days of the Golden Age, and we turn away 
from the bad deeds of the Tarquins to the incidents 
of Roman virtue which began with the republic and 
became the glory of Rome in the long eras of the 
consuls and tribunes. 

After the Tarquins were banished, and their prop¬ 
erty was confiscated, the people elected two praetors, 
or head men, to govern them for a fixed period; 
and these praetors did so well that the republic was 
firmly established, and the praetors, after a time, 
were called consuls. The consul was a president; 
and Rome had two presidents, or praetors, or con¬ 
suls, as we have one. 

Lucius Junius Brutus and Collatinus were the 
first praetors, or presidents. The early republic, like 
ours, required its praetors to be men of simple habits 
and living. When one of the praetors, Valerius, 
built a costly and pretentious house, the people 
compelled him to pull it doAvn, as they said it indi¬ 
cated an ambition to live in a style above them, the 
end of which spirit was royalty. These were sensi¬ 
ble times. 

During the presidency of the early praetors, the 
banished Tarquins sought to come back again. 
There were patrician families in Rome who did 


Chap. VI. LAST STORIES OF THE GOLDEN AGE. 43 


not like the simple freedom of the new republic, 
and these secretly favored the return of the Tar- 
quins. They formed a plan to bring the Tarquins 
back. The plot was discovered, and the consuls 
were obliged to condemn the traitors to death. 

The conspirators were arrested and brought before 
the praetors. Among them were two sons of Brutus, 
who was a praetor himself. Would the president 
condemn his own sons ? 

When the two young men were brought before 
their father, the praetor said, — 

“ What defence have you to make ? ” 

They only stood and wept in silence. 

“ Banish them! ” cried the senators, in a merci¬ 
ful mood. 

“ Executioners, do your office,” said the father 
sternly. The officers led out the two sons, and 
scourged and beheaded them before their father’s 
eyes. This is one of the first tales of Roman vir¬ 
tue as such acts were called, and we shall have 
many such to relate. 

The Tarquin who stood nearest to the Roman 
throne, after the old order of things, found an advo¬ 
cate in an Etruscan king who bore the musical 
name of Lars Porsena. This king came to the Tiber 
with his army to lay siege to Rome, and to restore 
the banished Tarquins. The Romans were taken 
by surprise, and driven across the bridge over the 
Tiber. The safety of the city now lay in their 
being able to destroy the bridge, to prevent the 
army of Lars Porsena from crossing. There were 
three brave Romans named Horatius, Lartius, and 
Herminius who held at bay the invading host while 
the bridge was being cut down. 

The story of Horatius Codes at the bridge of the 


44 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. VI. 


Tiber has been finely told by Livy. When you 
study Livy you may find the account. You may 
now be more interested to read the tradition as told 
by Macaulay in his Lays of Ancient Rome. Stu¬ 
dents like to speak this poem at school on elocution 
days, and we quote the greater part of the story as 
given in Macaulay’s heroic verse. The poem pre¬ 
sents a vivid picture of the spirit and times of early 
Lome: — 


Horatius at the Bridge. 

Lars Porsena of Clusium — by the Nine Gods he swore 
That the great house of Tarquin should suffer wrong no 
more. 

By the Nine Gods he swore it, and named a try sting day, 
And bade his messengers ride forth, to summon his array. 

East and west and south and north the messengers ride fast. 
And tower and town and cottage have heard the trumpet’s 
blast. 

Shame on the false Etruscan who lingers in his home 
When Porsena of Clusium is on the march for Rome. 

The horsemen and the footmen are pouring in amain, 

From many a stately market-place; from many a fruitful 
plain; 

From many a lonely hamlet, which, hid by beech and pine, 
Like an eagle’s nest, hangs on the crest of purple Apennine. 
******* 

The harvests of Arretium, this year, old men shall reap ; 
This year, young boys in Umbro shall plunge the struggling 
sheep; 

And in the vats of Luna, this year, the must shall foam 
Round the white feet of laughing girls, whose sires have 
marched to Rome. 

******* 

And now hath every city sent up her tale of men ; 

The foot are fourscore thousand, the horse are thousands ten. 


Chap. VI. LAST STORIES OF THE GOLDEN AGE. 45 


Before the gates of Sutrium is met the great array. 

A proud man was Lars Porsena upon the try sting day. 
******* 

But by the yellow Tiber was tumult and affright: 

From all the spacious champaign to Rome men took their 
flight. 

A mile around the city, the throng stopped up the ways; 

A fearful sight it was to see through two long nights and 
days. 

9fc 5ft H 5 

Now from the rock Tarpeian could the wan burghers spy 

The line of blazing villages red in the midnight sky. 

The Fathers of the city, they sat all night and day, 

For every hour some horseman came with tidings of dismay. 
******* 

I wis, in all the Senate, there was no heart so bold, 

But sore it ached, and fast it beat, when that ill news was 
told. 

Forthwith up rose the Consul, up rose the Fathers all; 

In haste they girded up their gowns, and hied them to the 
wall. 

They held a council standing before the River-Gate ; 

Short time was there, ye well may guess, for musing or 
debate. 

Out spake the Consul roundly: “The bridge must straight 
go down; 

For, since Janiculum is lost, naught else can save the town.” 

Just then a scout came flying, all wild with haste and fear: 

“ To arms! to arms ! Sir Consul; Lars Porsena is here.” 

On the low hills to westward the Consul fixed his eye, 

And saw the swarthy storm of dust rise fast along the sky. 

* * * * * * * 

But the Consul’s brow was sad, and the Consul’s speech was 
low, 

And darkly looked he at the wall, and darkly at the foe. 

“ Their van will be upon us before the bridge goes down ; 

And if they once may win the bridge, what hope to save the 
town ? ” 


46 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. VI. 


Then out spake brave Horatius, the captain of the gate: 

“To every man upon this earth death cometh, soon or late. 

And how can man die better than facing fearful odds, 

For the ashes of his fathers and the temples of his gods ? 
******* 

Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul, with all the speed ye may ; 

I, with two more to help me, will hold the foe in play. 

In yon straight path a thousand may well be stopped by 
three. 

Now who will stand on either hand, and keep the bridge 
with me?” 

Then out spake Spurius Lartius, — a Ramnian proud was 
he,— 

“Lo, I will stand at thy right hand, and keep the bridge 
with thee.” 

And out spake strong Herminius, — of Titian blood was 
he, — 

“ I will abide on thy left side, and keep the bridge with 
thee.” 

“Horatius,” quoth the Consul, “as thou sayest, so let it 
be.” 

And straight against that great array forth went the daunt¬ 
less three. 

For Romans in Rome’s quarrel spared neither land nor gold, 

Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life, in the brave days of old. 
******* 

Now while the three were tightening their harness on their 
backs, 

The Consul was the foremost man to take in hand an axe ; 

And Fathers mixed with Commons seized hatchet, bar, and 
crow, 

And smote upon the planks above, and loosed the props 
below. 

******* 

The three stood calm and silent and looked upon the foes, 

And a great shout of laughter from all the vanguard rose ; 

And forth three chiefs came spurring before that deep array; 

To earth they sprang, their swords they drew to win the 
narrow way. 


Chap. VI. LAST STORIES OF THE GOLDEN AGE. 47 


Stout Lartius hurled down Aunus into the stream beneath ; 
Herminius struck at Seius, and clove him to the teeth ; 

At Picus brave Horatius darted one fiery thrust; 

And the proud Umbrian’s gilded arms clashed in the bloody 
dust. 

******* 

But all Etruria’s noblest felt their hearts sink to see 
On the earth the bloody corpses, in the path the dauntless 
three. 

And from the ghastly entrance, where those bold Romans 
stood, 

The bravest shrank like boys who rouse an old bear in the 
wood. 

******* 

But meanwhile axe and lever have manfully been plied, 

And now the bridge hangs tottering above the boiling tide. 

“ Come back, come back, Horatius! ” loud cried the Fathers 
all: 

“ Back, Lartius ! back, Herminius ! back, ere the ruin fall! ” 

Back darted Spurius Lartius ; Herminius darted back ; 

And, as they passed, beneath their feet they felt the timbers 
crack; 

But when they turned their faces, and on the farther shore 
Saw brave Horatius stand alone, they would have crossed 
once more. 

But, with a crash like thunder, fell every loosened beam, 
And, like a dam, the mighty wreck lay right athwart the 
stream ; 

And a long shout of triumph rose from the walls of Rome, 
As to the highest turret-tops was splashed the yellow foam. 

And, like a horse unbroken when first he feels the rein, 

The furious river struggled hard, and tossed his tawny mane, 
And burst the curb, and bounded, rejoicing to be free, 

And battlement, and plank, and pier, whirled headlong to 
the sea. 

Alone stood brave Horatius, but constant still in mind ; 
Thrice thirty thousand foes before, and the broad flood 
behind. 


48 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. VI. 


“ Down with him! ” cried false Sextus, with a smile on his 
pale face. 

“ Now yield thee,” cried Lars Porsena, “ now yield thee to 
our grace.” 

Round turned he, as not deigning those craven ranks to see ; 

Naught spake he to Lars Porsena, to Sextus naught spake 
he; 

But he saw on Palatinus the white porch of his home, 

And he spake to the noble river that rolls by the towers of 
Rome. 

“ 0 Tiber ! father Tiber ! to whom the Romans pray, 

A Roman’s life, a Roman’s arms, take thou in charge this 
day! ” 

So he spake, and, speaking, sheathed the good sword by 
his side, 

And, with his harness on his back, plunged headlong in the 
tide. 

No sound of joy or sorrow was heard from either bank; 

But friends and foes, in dumb surprise, stood gazing where 
he sank; 

And when above the surges they saw his crest appear, 

Rome shouted, and e’en Tuscany could scarce forbear to 
cheer. 

But fiercely ran the current, swollen high by months of rain ; 

And fast his blood was flowing; and he was sore in pain, 

And heavy with his armor, and spent with changing blows, 

And oft they thought him sinking — but still again he rose. 

Never, I ween, did swimmer, in such an evil case, 

Struggle through such a raging flood safe to the landing 
place ; 

But his limbs were borne up bravely by the brave heart 
within, 

And our good father Tiber bare bravely up his chin. 

“ Curse on him ! ” quoth false Sextus ; “ will not the villain 
drown ? 

But for this stay, ere close of day we should have sacked the 
town! ” 



THE TEMPLE OF CASTOR AND POLLUX 





































































* 












































. 











Chap. VI. LAST STORIES OF THE GOLDEN AGE. 49 


“ Heaven help him ! ” quoth Lars Porsena, “and bring him 
safe to shore ; 

For such a gallant feat of arms was never seen before.” 

And now he feels the bottom ; — now on dry earth he 
stands ; 

Now round him throng the Fathers to press his gory hands. 
And, now with shouts and clapping, and noise of weeping 
loud, 

He enters through the Kiver-Gate, borne by the joyous 
crowd. 

They gave him of the corn-land that was of public right 
As much as two strong oxen could plough from morn till 
night; 

And they made a molten image, and set it up on high, 

And there it stands unto this day to witness if I lie. 

It stands in the Comitium, plain for all folk to see ; 

Horatius in his harness, halting upon one knee : 

And underneath is written, in letters all of gold, 

How valiantly he kept the bridge in the brave days of old. 

Lars Porsena blockaded the city and continued 
the siege until the Homans seemed about to perish 
for food. He then sent 
word to the people that 
he would send them bread 
if they would receive 
the Tar quins back again. 

Their answer was most 
heroic: Hunger is better 
than slavery. 

In the midst of the dis¬ 
tress in the city, a youth 
named Caius Marius asked 
leave to go without the 
walls into the camp of 
the enemy,, on a secret errand, He obtained per- 



Horatius Codes at the Bridge 
of the Tiber. 



50 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. VI. 


mission, and crept into the Etruscan camp while 
Lars Porsena was reviewing his army. Lars Por- 
sena and one of his counsellors were sitting side 
by side, and each was richly dressed. The youth 
rushed into the king’s pavilion, and, mistaking the 
counsellor for the king, struck him dead. He was 
seized, dragged before Lars Porsena, and ^sked 
what he meant by such a deed. 

“ I am Caius Marius,” said the youth, “ and I 
did the deed to liberate Rome, and I am willing to 
suffer anything for my country.” 

“ Torture him,” said the enraged soldiers. 

The young man saw a fire burning in a brazier 
near by, and, going up to it, thrust his right hand 
into the flame, and stood without flinching while 
the flesh was burned. Porsena liberated the young 
Roman, who told him that Rome was full of young 
men as brave and determined as himself. Lars 
Porsena made peace with Rome, and Tarquin died 
in exile at Cumae, after all his sons had perished. 

We come now to the last story of the Golden 
Age, and perhaps the most beautiful of the stories 
of the appearances of the gods among men. Such 
stories cannot be true, but as they were believed to 
have been true they form a very important part of 
the history of Rome, as great events were brought 
about by popular superstitions, which had much to 
do with the worship, the arts and monuments in 
Rome. There were two brothers of celestial origin, 
named Castor and Pollux, or the Twins. They had 
sailed in the Argo, and they lived one day in heaven 
and the next on earth. They appeared to men as 
horsemen. Thirty cities combined against Rome in 
the days of Valerius Publicola, a consul, who, like 
Servius Tullius, was the people’s friend. Publicola 


Chap. VI. LAST STORIES OF THE GOLDEN AGE. 51 


made a vow that if the gods would grant him a 
victory over his enemies he would build a temple 
to the Twins, Castor and Pollux. A great battle 
was fought near Lake Regillus. 

We tell the tale of the battle briefly here, but 
you must read the legend as related by Macaulay 
in his Lays of Ancient Borne , under the title of 
“ The Battle of the Lake Regillus ”: — 

“ Ho, trumpets, sound a war note ! 

Ho, lictors, clear the way ! ” 

In the midst of the battle two of the contending 
champions met on horseback, Mamilius and Her- 
minius: — 

“ Mamilius spied Herminius 
And dashed across the way ; 

‘ Herminius, I have sought thee 
Through many a bloody fray. 

One of us two, Herminius, 

Shall never more go home ; 

I will lay on for Tusculum, 

And lay thou on for Rome.’ ” 

Mamilius smote Herminius, and Herminius smote 
Mamilius, and each of the champions fell dead 
beside his horse. 

The horse of the dead Herminius rushed out of 
the battle and ran back to Tusculum, and dropped 
dead at his master’s door. Beside the horse of the 
fallen Mamilius two princely horsemen appeared. 



Medal Commemorating the Battle of Lake Regillus. 


52 


THE GOLDEN AGE. 


Chap. VI. 


“ So like they were no mortal 
Might one from other know : 

White as snow their armor was, 

Their steeds were white as snow.” 

These mysterious horsemen led the Romans to vic¬ 
tory and then disappeared. They appeared again, 
however, in the Roman Forum and announced the 
victory before any messengers from the army could 
arrive. The Romans had no doubt that the lumi¬ 
nous princes on the white horses were the Twins, 
Castor and Pollux, and, as Valerius had vowed, a 
glorious temple was erected, where divine honors 
were paid to the Twins, who were long regarded as 
the patron saints of Rome. 

The Golden Age, when the earth and air were 
full of appearing and disappearing gods and god¬ 
desses, now passes into the living age of the Re¬ 
public. We come now to firm historic ground, 
and our next part of this narrative will be that 
glorious period of Roman virtue which will forever 
be the pride of the Latin race. It is a far nobler 
period than the Golden Age of fable. It represents 
the first great struggle for human liberty and the 
birthrights of men. 



Virgil. 


Part II. 

STORY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 

CHAPTER VII. —The Rise of the Republic. 
CHAPTER VIII. — The Grand Days of Roman Virtue. 

ClNCINNATUS. CuRTIUS. 

CHAPTER IX. — Greece makes War on Rome. 

CHAPTER X. — Carthage makes War on Rome. Reg- 
ulus. 

CHAPTER XI. — Rome goes forth to Conquer the 
World. 

CHAPTER XII. — Caosar and the End of the Roman 
Republic. 

53 



















































I 






















































' 









































































CHAPTER VII. 


Rise of the Roman Republic. 

S P. Q. R., — Senatus Populusque Romanus. Such 
• was the motto of the purple standards of 
the new Republic of Rome. The meaning of the 
words is the Roman Senate and people. The standards 
were ornamented with eagles, and they marched, 
as a rule, to victory for nearly five hundred years. 

The kings were overthrown about the year 500, 
but the struggle for the Republic had begun many 
• years before with the plans of Servius Tullius. 
Exact dates cannot be given. The glorious stories 
of “ Horatius at the Bridge ” and the “ Battle of 
Lake Regillus” belong to the final struggles for 
the establishment of the Republic. 

We have grand stories to tell of the Republic of 
Rome in its integrity and simplicity. But before 
we begin this pleasing narration we must explain 
what the Roman government was and the meaning 
of its terms and offices. You will like to know in 
what respects it resembled our own. 

The praetors, or, as they were called later, consuls, 
were really two kings who were elected yearly. 
They had the supreme power. For a time they 
could inflict the sentence of death. They were ad¬ 
vised by a council of patricians called the Senate. 
In the early days of the Republic the Senate had 
no power except as counsellors. Later they were 
intrusted with great power and became the law¬ 
makers of Rome. 


55 


56 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. VII. 


The consuls were elected like presidents and, 
being so elected, were presidents; but they for 
a long time exercised kingly power. They did 
not wear golden crowns like kings, but they wore 

purple robes, and 
sat upon elevated 
seats with ivory 
sceptres sur¬ 
mounted by gol¬ 
den eagles. They 
declared war and 
made peace, and 
led the Roman 
armies. They also 
acted as judges, 
and when em¬ 
ployed in this 
office were at¬ 
tended by twelve 
guards, called lie- 
tors, whose em¬ 
blem of authority 
was an axe in a 
bundle of rods. 

The consuls at 
first were elected 
from the patri¬ 
cian families. 
After a time the 
people com¬ 
plained that they misused their power, and claimed 
that the office led to oppression and arrogance. 
The common people demanded a representation of 
their own. Hence arose tribunes of the people. 

The office of tribune is one of the most noble 



Lictors. 


^2 
















mm®, is 




*W.«T 


m t &m * 


-~yrm 


Z&SW7&EBS? 


•jrtv*;\^v«rj<.Vj 






PRAETORIANS 































































































































































































i 































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Chap. VII. 


RISE OF THE REPUBLIC. 


57 


features of the old Roman government. The trib¬ 
unes presided at the coinitias, or assemblies of the 
people, and had the privilege of vetoing or prevent¬ 
ing the execution of unjust laws. 

The rulers of the Roman provinces were usually 
those who had been consuls and were called pro- 
consuls. In times of war a consul might be made 
a dictator by the advice of the Senate. 

The consul was not allowed to succeed himself. 
He had to wait a certain number of years before he 
could be re-elected. A person 
standing for a high public 
office dressed in white, and 
from the Roman candidus 
(white) comes our word “ can¬ 
didate.” 

The censors numbered the 
people and regulated the public 
morals. 

The “Fathers of Rome” 
were for the most part the 
senators, and men of high rank Roman Eagle, 
or especial honor. The senators were for a long 
time men of noble birth j but as the people gained 
power, representatives of the lower orders were 
admitted to the Senate, and as they were written 
in they were called “Conscript Fathers,” from con- 
scripti, written. 

The Comitia Tributa was the assembly of the 
Commons ( plebs , people), and the plebiscita were 
the resolutions of this assembly. 

The history of the Roman Republic is one long 
struggle of the common people for their rights. 
The patrician or senatorial families, who had ac¬ 
quired rank and wealth during the period of the 




58 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. VII. 


kings, continued to look down upon the working 
people, who were really of the same blood as them¬ 
selves ; for even the blood of kings is no different 
from others’. They did all in their power to keep 

the people under 
them, and make 
them their ser¬ 
vants, and com¬ 
pel them to pay 
taxes to them. 
It was against 
the law in the 
early days of the 
Republic for a 
patrician to 
marry a plebe¬ 
ian. The patri¬ 
cians rented 
their great es¬ 
tates to the peo¬ 
ple at rates of 
pay that made 
them little bet¬ 
ter than slaves. 
The people made 
a long struggle 
against such op¬ 
pressions, and 
their first tri¬ 
umph was the 
election of trib- 



A Roman in a Toga. 


unes, who might say no or I veto to unjust laws 
of the consuls and Senate. 

The way that the people gained their tribunes, 
who had what was called the veto power, is very 






Chap. VII. 


RISE OF THE REPUBLIC. 


59 


interesting, and it reads like a story. You will feel 
for the Roman people in their attempts to gain 
their natural rights, or birthrights; and there is no 
story of liberty that meant more to mankind than 
this demand of the rent payers and tax payers and 
workmen for tribunes or consuls of their own. It 
came about in this way. 

If a poor man by any misfortune fell into debt, 
he might be sent to prison and his family sold. 
There was a brave soldier who had been thrown 
into prison for debt and who had been cruelly 
treated in prison, as most prisoners were. One day 
when the Forum, as 
the public place was 
called, was full of peo¬ 
ple, he broke out of 
prison and came to the 
place of public speak¬ 
ing, and appealed to 
the people. Livy de¬ 
scribes the scene in his 
best way, and you must 
have learned by this 
time to like the old his¬ 
torian’s vivid stories. 

Livy says: — 

“A man of reverend 
years rushed out into 
the Forum, bearing all 
the tokens of utter 
wretchedness. His gar¬ 
ments were miserably squalid, his person more 
miserable still; his countenance was pallid, and 
he seemed to be wasting away with hunger. But, 
through all this disfigurement, he was recognized 


A 



A Centurion. 








60 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. VII. 


as having once held the rank of a centurion; and 
the spectators, while they pitied him, recounted 
other military distinctions which he had won. Bar¬ 
ing his breast, he showed scars which bore witness 
to many a hard-fought field. When he was asked 
how he came to be in this miserable dress and con¬ 
dition, while a crowd gathered round him and 
formed, as it were, a regular audience, he said that 
while serving in the Sabine wars, not only had his 
fields lost their crops in the raids made by the 
enemy, but his homestead had been burned, his 
goods and chattels plundered, and his cattle driven 
off; and, the war-tax coming upon him at this un¬ 
lucky time, he had contracted debts. These had 
been swelled by exorbitant interest: first he had 
been stripped of the farm which his father and 
grandfather had held before him, then of all his 
other property; at last, the ruin, like a plague, had 
reached his person. He had been thrown by ’his 
creditor, not into ordinary bondage, but into the 
hard-labor house and the dungeon. And he showed 
his back, scored with the marks of recent scourg¬ 
ing.” 

The people had long been discontented and this 
scene filled them with rage. What could they do ? 
how could they get justice from their oppressors? 

A tribe called the Yolsci, or Yolscians, that lived 
in the south part of the country, had declared war 
against Rome and were on their march towards the 
city. 

“The Yolscians! the Yolscians!” said the people; 
“ they shall deliver us, and we will appeal to them 
and make them our friends.” 

When the patricians saw the stand that the 
poor people had taken, they were greatly alarmed; 



$ 


THE FORUM. TEMPLE OF SATURN, 491 B.C. ARCH OF SEPTIMUS SEVERUS. 

THREE COLUMNS OF TEMPLE OF VESPASIAN. 

































Chap. VII. 


RISE OF THE REPUBLIC. 


61 


for with a foe without and a foe within the city 
they might lose their places altogether, and then 
their so-called noble blood would be of no more 
account than others’. 

The Senate summoned the people to enlist or to 
be enrolled for the war against the Volscians. 

“No,” said they, “the gods are sending the 
Volscians to deliver us from you. We will not 
light them.” 

The patricians now saw that they had no power 
except by the consent of the people, and they began 
to treat with the people to induce them to enlist. 
A dictator was appointed to persuade the people to 
obey the laws or else to put the people down. But 
the discontent went on. The people began to feel 
their power, and they were resolved to bring the 
patricians to terms. The workmen assembled with¬ 
out the walls, formed an army, and were prepared 
to resist the patricians, who now saw that they 
would be overthrown unless something was done. 

There was a very wise old man in Rome, named 
Menenius Agrippa, who was beloved and respected 
by all classes of people. He was asked to give his 
views in public on the crisis, and the Romans were 
all eager to hear him. 

“There was once a time,” said he, “when the 
limbs and choice members of the body, — the head, 
the heart, the hands, the feet, — all became dissat¬ 
isfied because they had to associate with the belly; 
the head had to think how to fill the belly, the 
hands to work for it, and the feet to carry it about. 
They resolved that they would do no more for it. 
They would be rid of their association with it. They 
would not work for it or feed it. But as soon as 
they began to slight the homely member they all 


62 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. VII. 


grew weak and starved and poor, and saw that the 
whole body would perish unless they did the belly 
justice and served it as nature had designed them 
to do. So,” said the wise man, “all ranks and 
states in the nation depend upon each other, and 
we must render to all their rights and give them 
the service and honor that are their due.” 

The patricians and plebeians saw the force of 
the fable, and both parties were made willing to 
adopt measures that would be most useful to each. 



A Roman Soldier. 









Chap. VIII. GRAND DAYS OF ROMAN VIRTUE. 63 


CHAPTER VIII. 


The Grand Days of Roman Virtue. 

HE plebeians struggled for their rights against 



-J- the patricians for centuries, but the contests 
were for the most part peaceful ones, and, as a rule, 
ended in the triumph of liberty. The Republic 
engaged in many wars with the neighboring tribes, 
and one by one these tribes became a part of Rome, 
and helped form the Latin Empire. 

Then Greece made war on Rome, and then Carth¬ 
age, but both invasions were repelled, and then 
the Roman legions went forth to conquer Europe. 
Rome triumphed over the world under Julius 
Caesar; but, in the hour of her pride and glory, 
Caesar disobeyed the Senate and crossed the Rubi¬ 
con, and made himself emperor, and the Republic 
of the consuls and tribunes fell, and imperial Rome 
arose. The Empire, as the Rome of the emperors 
was called, was prosperous in its beginning, but 
became one long scene of tyranny, vice, and blood. 
Then the barbarian nations swept down upon it 
and crushed it and made it their spoil. So long as 
Rome kept her virtue she was strong, and enlarged 
her liberties. When she lost her virtue she lost 
also her liberties, and with the loss of her liberties 
her strength decayed, and she fell an easy prey to 
her enemies. 

It is now the period of Roman virtue, when 


64 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. VIII. 


Romans were men, and each loyal man might have 
said, — 

“ My life and honor both together run ; 

Take honor from me and my life is done.” 

The heroes of this age were noble in their integ¬ 
rity or uprightness of character: truth and purity 
were their glory. It was that “ elder day ” of which 
the historic poet wrote, when — 

“To be a Roman was greater than a king.” 

In this period a man’s crown was his honor, and 
glorious days they were. 

There was a patrician youth, Caius Marcius by 
name, who did valiant deeds in a war against the 
Volscian city of Corioli. When he returned from 
the contest he was brought before Cominius, the 
consul, covered with wounds, who set upon his 
head a crown and named him Coriolanus. The 
consul then offered him a spoil of slaves. “ I will 
accept of only one,” said the youth. 

He chose his slave, and at once made him free. 

But he was a proud man. The Romans elected 
him consul, but the tribunes of the people forbade 
him to hold the office. He was so much affronted 
by the rejection that he took leave of his old 
mother, his wife, and children, and left Rome and 
made his home with Tullus, a Volscian chief. 

In a war that followed Coriolanus marched against 
Rome with the Volscians. The Romans were greatly 
distressed at being called to fight against such an 
enemy, and took council as to what they should do. 

In this council a strange plan was proposed. 
Coriolanus loved his family and little children, 
and had a Roman heart. The mothers of Rome 


Chap. VIII. GRAND DATS OF ROMAN VIRTUE. 65 

offered to go to his camp with their children in 
their arms, and to hold the little ones like so many 
shields before him, and to appeal to his tender feel¬ 
ings. So they passed 
out of the gates, headed 
by the mother and wife 
of Coriolanus, and his 
own little ones. 

As the mothers came 
to his camp, his wife 
and his old mother ap¬ 
peared before him, and 
his mother sorrowfully 
said: — 

“If you are about to 
destroy Rome, begin 
with me.” 

She threw herself at 
his feet, and the women 
and children presented 
a pitiable scene. 

Coriolanus took his 
mother’s hand and lift¬ 
ed her up. 

“ Oh, mother,” he said, “ what is it you do? You 
have saved Rome, but you have lost your son. ” 

His words were true. He was condemned for his 
act by the Yolscians, and put to death. 

There was a patrician family in Rome of noble 
character, the father of whom received the name of 
Cincinnatus from his curly hair. He was a man 
of sound mind and far sight, and nearly all of the 
people believed that he would be governed in all 
things by his sense of right. He lived on a simple 
farm of four acres, and people who sought his 





66 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC . Chap. VIII. 


wisdom visited him there.. Although a patrician, 
the plebeians respected him because his judgments 
and opinions were unselfish and just. 

In the wars with the neighboring tribesi there 
came a time of great peril, and a council of the 
people met to consider what it were best to do. 

The people deliberated. 

They saw their need of great wisdom and pru¬ 
dence, and at fast some one made a proposal that 
was received with general approval. 

“Make Cincinnatus dictator.” 

They chose messengers to go to see Cincinnatus 
at his farm by the blue Tiber. They found the 
wise man ploughing in the field. 

And queerly enough, his good wife was helping 
him plough. This is a very interesting scene in a 
patrician’s family in the days of old Roman virtue, 
is it not? 

The messengers told’ him their errand. Cincin¬ 
natus turned to his wife and said: — 

“Racilia,” (what a pretty name!) “go fetch me 
my toga.” 

Then, we are told, he washed his face, and started 
in a boat on the Tiber towards Rome. 

Cincinnatus took the lead of a volunteer army, 
routed the enemy, and resigned his dictatorship at 
the end of sixteen days. He refused to accept any 
of the spoil, but went back to his farm on the 
Tiber, and again followed the plough,— a very good 
example to all future men who might be sought by 
public office. Cincinnatus was far nobler at the 
plough than he would have been had be become a 
selfish, ambitious politician. Little Arthur, never 
forget Cincinnatus and his return to the plough. 

There were some acts that were held to be virtu- 


Chap. VIII. GRAND DAYS OF ROMAN VIRTUE. 67 


ous in those old days of honor which would be 
deemed hard now. In the struggles between the 
consuls and the tribunes of the people it was at 
one time thought best to make a compromise by 
having ten annually elected selectmen, or governors, 
to take charge of the government. These ten men 
were called the decemvirs. They began to govern 
well, and made good laws, which were called the 
Laws of the Ten Tables. But they became proud 
and fell into dishonor. Their leader, or president, 
was Appius Claudius, a man who was governed by 
his strong desires instead of his moral sense. One 
day, as Appius was passing through the forum, as 
the public place of Borne was called, and which 
was the place of schools, he saw there a very beau¬ 
tiful girl, the daughter of a military officer named 
Yirginius. He inquired who she was, and learned 
that her name was Virginia, and that her father 
was on duty in the army, and that she was engaged 
to be married to a man whose name was Icilius. 
Appius was charmed with the beauty of the girl, 
and would have been glad to make her his own 
wife, but he was a patrician, and at this time it 
was against the law for a patrician to marry a 
plebeian. He therefore devised a wicked plan to 
bring the beautiful girl into his household as a 
slave, and secured a client who should say that the 
girl was not the true daughter of Virginius, but 
had been adopted by her family from a slave 
mother. 

The case came to judgment, and Appius sustained 
the false story of his client, to the shame of the 
Koman people. 

When Virginius returned and learned of this 
cruel trick and false judgment, he sought Virginia, 


68 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. VIII. 


and came into the forum leading tire beautiful girl 
by the hand. The father appealed to Appius, but 
the latter made sentence against him. The rest of 
the story is very hard and cruel. We will ask 
Livy to tell it to you, for never a man could picture 
such scenes like this fine old writer! 

“ When Appius had thundered forth these words 
in his overflowing* passion, the crowd gave way 
without resistance, and the maiden stood deserted 
by all, a helpless prey to injustice. Then Virgin - 
ius, when he saw no aid was to be looked for, said: 
‘I pray thee, Appius, first to make allowance for a 
father’s feelings, if I have said aught too bitter 
against thee; then, suffer me to question this nurse, 
in the maiden’s presence, as to the facts of this 
matter; so, if I have been wrongly called her 
father, I can part from her with a lighter heart. ’ 
Leave was given; he led the girl and her nurse 
aside, near what are now called the New Booths, 
and there, seizing a knife from a butcher, he cried: 

‘ Thus, my daughter, in the only way I can, I make 
thee free! ’ Then he stabbed her to the heart, and, 
lifting his eyes to the tribunal, said: ‘Thee and 
thy life, Appius, I consecrate to destruction in this 
blood! ’ Roused by the cries which followed on 
this deed of horror, Appius bade his men seize 
Virginius. But he cleared a way for himself with 
the knife as he went; and so, protected also by a 
body of young men who escorted him, reached the 
city gate. Then Icilius and Numitorius lifted up 
the lifeless corpse, and showed it to the people.” 

The injustice of Appius and the wrong that he 
did to Roman liberty caused the decemvirs to be 
overthrown by the people, and the old government 
by consuls and tribunes was established again. 


Chap. VIII. GRAND DAYS OF ROMAN VIRTUE. 69 


We now come to one of the most interesting 
stories of the palmy days of the Republic. In the 
war with the Yeii, a dictator was appointed by the 
name of Marcus Furius Camillus. He made Publius 
Cornelius Scipio his chief officer. Camillus con¬ 
quered the Yeii, and spoiled the city, and was 
granted a triumph by the Romans. 

Falerii, a town allied to the Yeii, was soon after 
conquered by Camillus. Of this war a very curious 
incident is related. The sons of the chief families 
of Falerii were in charge of a certain ambitious 
schoolmaster, who seems to have thought that he 
could make a name for himself by turning traitor, 
and becoming a subject of Rome. 

So one day the cunning schoolmaster took his 
boys without the walls of the city, pretending to 
give them exercise, and led them directly into the 
camp of Camillus. He told Camillus that the boys 
were the sons of the ruling families, and that he 
would only have to hold them prisoners to bring 
the city to terms. Camillus, to his honor, listened 
to the proposal with indignation. He had a Roman 
soul that shrunk from such scheme of dishonor. 

“Ho,” he said, “I will not keep the boys. And 
instead of rewarding you for such a base proposal, 
I will cause the boys to punish you, as your treach¬ 
ery merits.” 

He ordered that rods or whips should be put into 
the hands of the boys. 

“He has been untrue to you,” said the Roman. 
“How whip him all the way back to the city.” 

The boys whipped the crafty pedagogue back to 
the gates, and received a lesson in Roman honor 
which the world will never forget. 

Camillus’s triumph was very splendid, and there 


70 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. VIII. 


were not wanting men who said that it was not 
becoming a republic. 

Camillus’s chariot on the grand occasion was 
drawn by four white horses. His face was painted, 
and he presented himself to the people in the atti¬ 
tude of a god rather than a soldier. In the divi¬ 
sion of the spoils he had omitted to make a tenth 
* part an offering to the gods, according to the custom. 
These things led to some distrust of the character 
of Camillus. 

The people began to whisper that Camillus was 
ambitious. The slander grew, and he was impeached 
or vetoed by one of the tribunes. He decided to 
go into voluntary exile, and as he left Koine he 
declared: — 

“ I only ask that if I am innocent, and wrong has 
been done me, my countrymen may be made to feel 
my loss.” 

Five years later a great alarm came to Kome. 
There was a barbarian nation in the north called 
the Gauls. They had blue eyes, yellow hair, and 
strong arms; they went naked to the waist, and 
their bands or armies were fearful to look upon. 
They had driven the Etruscans away from the fer¬ 
tile lands of the Po, and had crossed the Apennine 
mountains, and were facing Rome. It is said that 
the voice of an oracle or god was heard in the 
Temple of Vesta one night, saying, “The Gauls 
are at hand.” 

However this may have been, the victorious Gauls 
were on their way to Kome. They came like a 
hurricane, and nothing could stand before them. 
The Roman senators, with true Roman virtue, re¬ 
solved to die in their seats. 

There are few stories in the world more noble 


Chap. VIII. GRAND DAYS OF ROMAN VIRTUE. 71 

than the way that these senators met the invasion 
of these giants from the north. They dressed them¬ 
selves in their robes of state, and sat down like 
so many statues to meet whatever might await 
them. You will ask, little Arthur, how Livy told 
this grand story. We will have his picture; it is 
simple, but a master-stroke. 

“ The houses of the lower orders were shut up, 
but the halls of the chief men stood open; and they 
hesitated more at entering these than at breaking 
open such as were closed against them. Thus it 
was not without a certain awe and reverence that 
they beheld, sitting in the vestibules of their houses, 
figures which not only in their costume and decora¬ 
tions, whose magnificence seemed to their eyes more 
than mortal, but in the majesty of their looks and 
bearing, were like unto gods. While they stood 
fixedly regarding them as though they were statues, 
a Gaul is said to have stroked the beard, worn long 
as it was in those days, of one of them, Marcus 
Papirius, who smote him on the head with his ivory 
staff, and woke his wrath; with that began a gen¬ 
eral massacre, and the rest were killed where they 
sat.” 

While all was terror among the people of Rome, 
who should come to the rescue but the banished 
Camillus. He had raised an army among the men 
of Arden, to whom he had gone in banishment, 
heavy at heart at the ingratitude of the world. He 
had strengthened this little army by Roman fugi¬ 
tives, and his name rallied Rome. He appeared 
before the walls at a most critical time. 

There was a Roman force whom the Gauls were 
besieging in the Capitol. The Capitol Hill could 
only be ascended by strategy, but the Gauls found 


72 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. VIII. 


a way to go up by stealth, and might have succeeded 
in surprising the fortress, but for cackling of some 
wakeful geese. A goose keeps her eyes open. And 
it came to be a proverb that “ Rome was saved by 
the cackling of a goose .” 

The Gauls left Rome at the coming of Camillus, 
but they had sacked the city, and took away with 
them great spoil. The people were so disheartened 
that they proposed founding a new city at Yeii. 
Camillus loved Rome, and its grand history, which 
was one of gods and heroes. He addressed the 
people, and, if he uttered the words as given by 
Livy, a noble address it was that he made. You 
will wish to read it, and perhaps to speak it at 
school. We love to read it over and over again! 

“ My countrymen, we hold a city founded under 
auspices and with solemn inauguration; there is no 
spot within its walls that is not full of a divine 
presence and hallowed associations. The days on 
which our great sacrifices recur are not more strictly 
fixed than the places where they are to be offered. 
Will you desert all these objects of adoration, pub¬ 
lic and private, my fellow-citizens? 

“ Some will say, perhaps, that we can fulfil these 
sacred duties at Yeii, or send our own priests from 
thence to perform them here. Neither can be done 
without breaking our religious obligations. What 
shall I say of the Eternal Eire of Yesta, and of that 
Image of Pallas, which iEneas brought from Troy, 
preserved in the guardianship of her temple as the 
pledge of our empire? What of your sacred shields, 
0 great Mars and Father Quirinus? Is it your will 
to forsake and leave to desecration all these hallowed 
symbols, old as the city herself, some even older 
than her foundation? 


Chap. VIII. GRAND DAYS OF ROMAN VIRTUE. 73 


The Priest of 


“ I speak of ceremonies, and of temples — what 
shall I say of those who guard them? Your Vestals 
have one only seat, whence nothing but the capture 
of the city ever yet moved them. 

Jupiter may not lawfully pass 
a single night outside the city 
walls. Will you make these 
ministers of Veii instead of 
Rome? 

“If in this whole city no 
better or more commodious 
dwelling could be erected than 
that hut in which our Founder 



Temple of Jupiter. 


lived, — were it not better to live in huts like 
shepherds and peasants, amidst your own shrines 
and household gods, than go into this national 
exile? . . . Does our affection or our native place 
depend on walls and beams? For mine own part, 
when I was late in exile, I confess that as often 
as my native city came into my thoughts, there 
rose before my eyes all this,—these hills, these 
plains, yon Tiber, and the scene so familiar to my 
sight, and the bright sky under which I was born 
and brought up. 0 Roman countrymen!, rather 
let these things move you now by the love you 
bare them, to stay where you are, than wring your 
hearts with regret for them hereafter! Not with¬ 
out cause did gods and men fix on this spot to 
found a city: health-giving hills, a river nigh at 
hand, to bring in food from all inland places, to 
receive supplies by sea; the sea itself handy for 
commerce, yet not so near as to expose the city 
to hostile fleets; a spot central to all Italy, 
adapted beyond all others for the growth of a 
great state.’’ 





74 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. VIII. 



Consul between two 
Laurel Crowned Fasces 


The speech of Camillus inspired the Romans with 
patriotism, and they began to rebuild. 

While Rome was rebuilding war came again, and 
during the struggle there arose a plebeian consulate. 
Camillus was six times made dictator, and proved 
himself superior to all of his 
enemies, and died in honored 
old age. 

Rome was subject to earth¬ 
quakes, and about this time the 
earth was shaken, and there 
opened a great chasm in the 
Forum. The people thought that 
the gods were angry, and that 
they must make offerings to the 
chasm to appease the gods. The priests told them 
that they must make the most precious offerings 
that Rome possessed, when the chasm would close. 

They threw in gold and jewels, but the chasm 
did not close. Then a patrician youth named 
Marcus Curtius said that the sons of Rome were the 
most precious offerings, and he dressed himself in 
festal robes, and leaped into the chasm, which im¬ 
mediately closed. We think that this story is not 
true. We are almost sorry to disbelieve it, and are 
glad to hope that the act of the young man was a 
real one. It well accords with the character of 
these noble old times. It does one good to read of 
these days when a man’s fortunes and fame was 
valued by the honor of his soul! 

You like to know how Livy told the story of 
Curtius. With his picture we will close this 
special illustration of pleasing and ennobling 
legend and history. 

“ Then young Marcus Curtius, a gallant soldier, 






Chap. VIII. GRAND DAYS OF ROMAN VIRTUE. 75 

chid them all for doubting that there could be any 
better thing in Rome than good weapons and a stout 
heart. He called for silence; and looking towards 
the temples of the immortal gods that crowned the 
Forum, and towards the Capitol, he lifted his hands 
first to heaven, and then stretching them down¬ 
wards, where the gulf yawned before him, in sup¬ 
plication to the Powers below, he solemnly devoted 
himself to death. Mounted on his horse, which he 
had clothed in the most splendid trappings that 
could be found, he leapt all armed into the chasm, 
while crowds of men and women showered in after 
him precious gifts and fruits.” 

In the struggles of the people for their rights was 
bom Roman oratory. It was the voice of Liberty. 
Boys to-day love to speak at school the heroic words 
that these orators uttered in defence of theii rights 
which all men may claim as the common gifts of 
God. 

We must give you from place to place the 
noblest thoughts of these orators of Borne. We 
will begin here, with a speech made by Caius Canu- 
leius, a tribune of the people, who secured the pas¬ 
sage of a law allowing patricians to marry plebeians, 
and so promote the social and civil advancement of 
all worthy people. He also favored the plan of 
making all men equally entitled to election to the 
consulship, according to their fitness, and without 
regard to the rank of their families. The result 
was that tribunes were elected with consular power. 

You will like the spirit, the independence, and the 
ringing words of the grand old Koman tribune: — 

“ This is not the first time, 0 Romans, that patri¬ 
cian arrogance has denied to us the rights of a 
common humanity. What do we now demand? 


76 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. VIII. 


First, the right of intermarriage; and then, that 
the people may confer honors on whom they please. 
And why, in the name of Roman manhood, my 
countrymen, why should these poor boons be re¬ 
fused? Why, for claiming them, was I near being 
assaulted, just now, in the senate-house? Will the 
city no longer stand, will the empire be dissolved, 
because we claim the plebeians shall no longer be 
excluded from the consulship? Truly these patri¬ 
cians will, by and by, begrudge us a participation 
in the light of day; they will be indignant that we 
breathe the same air; that we share with them the 
faculty of speech; that we wear the form of human 
beings. But I cry them mercy. They tell us that 
it is contrary to religion that a plebeian should be 
made consul! The ancient religion of Rome for¬ 
bids it! Ah! verily? How will they reconcile this 
pretence to the facts? Though not admitted to the 
archives, nor to the commentaries of the pontiffs, 
there are some notorious facts which, in common 
with the rest of the world, we well know. We 
know that there were kings before there were con¬ 
suls in Rome. We know that consuls possess no 
prerogative, no dignity, not formerly inherent in 
kings. We know that Numa Pompilius was made 
king at Rome, who was not only not a patrician, but 
not even a citizen; that Lucius Tarquinius, who 
was not even of Italian extraction, was made king; 
that Servius Tullius, who was the son of a captive 
woman, was made king. And shall plebeians, who 
formerly were not excluded from the throne, now, 
on the juggling plea of religious objection, be de¬ 
barred from the consulship? 

“ But it is not enough that the offices of the state 
are withheld from us. To keep pure their dainty 


Chap. Vffi. GRAND DAYS OF ROMAN VIRTUE. 


77 


blood, these patricians would prevent, by law, all 
intermarriage of members of their order with ple¬ 
beians. Could there be a more marked indignity, 
a more humiliating insult, than this? Why not 
legislate against our living in the same neighbor¬ 
hood, dwelling under the same skies, walking the 
same earth? Ignominy not to be endured! Was it 
for this we expelled the kings? Was it for this that 
we exchanged one master for many? No. Let the 
rights we claim be admitted, or let the patricians 
fight the battles of the state themselves. Let the 
public offices be open to all; let every invidious 
law in regard to marriage be abolished; 

or, by the gods vA of our fathers let there be 
no levy of troops \ to achieve victories in 
the benefits of \ which the people shall 
not most amply and equally partake! ” 



//■/>' 


Roman Cavalry. 






78 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. IX. 


CHAPTER IX. 


The Greek Invasion. — War with Elephants. 


E are still in tlie age of Roman virtue. Rome 



vv liad conquered nearly all the tribes of the 
Italian peninsula, and formed the Latin kingdom 
whose arts and arms were destined to possess the 
eastern world. 

There was a Greek city named Tarentum, which 
hoped to escape the fate of the neighboring cities, 
and prevent a conquest by Rome. So it sought the 
protection and aid of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, 
who was one of the most ambitious spirits of the 
times of old. 



Coin of Pyrrhus. 


Pyrrhus was born about 318 b.c. He became 
King of Epeiros, or Epirus, in 295. In 281 he 
conceived a scheme for the conquest of Rome, and 
the western world, which looked to him as glorious 
as the plans of Alexander, who had won the greatest 
fame as a conqueror. 





PYRRHUS. 



















































































* 

































































































. 













































































Chap. IX. 


THE GREEK INVASION. 


79 


The Tarentines were a Greek colony in Lower 
Italy. They sent an embassy, or messenger, to him, 
in the name of all the Greek colonies in Italy, 
offering him the command of their armies against 
the Bomans. Pyrrhus was overjoyed at the pro¬ 
posal, and sailed for Tarentum, the Greek capital 
in Italy, in 280 b.c., with twenty thousand foot 
soldiers, three thousand horse, two thousand 
archers, live hundred slingers, and what proved 
of more importance than any other part of the 
army, a troop of twenty elephants. The first battle 
between Pyrrhus and the Bomans took place on 
the fields of the Biver Siris. The Bomans fought 
desperately, and seemed about to prevail, when 
Pyrrhus brought forward his troop of elephants 
to trample down his enemies. The Bomans had 
never seen these gigantic animals, and were seized 
with great fear, and fled before the onset of such 
unexpected champions. 

Pyrrhus lost so many men in the battle that he 
is reported to have said: “ Another such a victory 
would compel me to return to Epirus alone.” 

Many of the Italian tribes who disliked the 
Bomans now joined Pyrrhus, and he took his march 
towards Borne. Perhaps never had the Boman 
Bepublic been threatened by so dangerous a foe, 
for the Gauls were but a horde of robbers. The 
Boman senate deliberated sending out an embassy 
to make terms with the conqueror. But Appius 
Claudius Csecus advised the Pathers and the people 
to be true to their honor. Another battle was 
fought, and the Bomans were again defeated; but 
the invaders lost so many men that they were una¬ 
ble to follow up their victory, and Pyrrhus for a 
time turned aside from the Boman war to engage 


80 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. 


Chap. IX. 


in war with Carthage. In 274 the war with 
Rome was renewed, and the Romans under Consul 
Curius Dentatus defeated Pyrrhus at Beneventum, 
and he fled to Tarentum, and thence returned to 
Epirus. 

Never did Roman character appear more noble 
than in the period of the Greek invasion. When 
Pyrrhus had won his first victory over the Romans, 
he sent his ambassador, whose name was Cineas, 
to Rome to arrange terms of peace. The Romans 
had fought so sternly that the invader did not care 
to continue the struggle, provided that he could 
make an advantageous peace. 

Pyrrhus sent presents to the Roman senators and 
their families, after the Greek custom of beginning 

negotiations or 
terms for settling 
affairs of war. 
The Roman wives 
haughtily refused 
the offer of pres¬ 
ents, which they 
looked upon as 
bribes. Cineas, 
on returning, told 
Pyrrhus that the 
Roman senators 
were like an as¬ 
sembly of kings. 

The Romans, 
however, sent an 
ambassador named Caius Fabricius Luscinus to 
Pyrrhus to treat with him in regard to the Roman 
prisoners that he had taken. Cineas told the king 
that the ambassador was a poor man. 

















Chap. IX. 


THE GREEK INVASION. 


81 


The king offered Fabricius rich presents, but not 
one of them would the Boman accept. 

The king, seeing his lofty spirit, resolved to 
break it. He had seen how the troop of elephants 
had frightened the Bomans. So he summoned 
Fabricius to a conference in the royal tent, which 
was divided into two parts by a curtain. 

As they were conversing, suddenly the curtain 
dropped, and an enormous elephant that had been 
hidden behind it raised his trunk over the Boman’s 
head and trumpeted. 

But Fabricius was not to be thus frightened. He 
turned to the king and said: — 

“ I am not to be bribed by your gold or frightened 
by your great beast.” 

The doctrines of the Greek Epicureans was 
explained to him. One of their doctrines was 
that life should be spent in the pursuit of 
pleasure. 

“ 0 Hercules! ” exclaimed Fabricius, “ may the 
Greeks hold to this doctrine if we are to fight with 
them! ” Meaning that a love of pleasure made men 
weak, and easy to be overcome in war. 

Pyrrhus consented to release the prisoners, on 
honorable terms. 

Fabricius was chosen consul the next year. While 
in the office he received a secret message from a 
physician of Pyrrhus offering to poison his master, 
the king. The consul returned the letter to Pyr¬ 
rhus with the following answer: — 

“Caius Fabricius and Quintus iEmilius, consuls, 
to Pyrrhus, king, greeting. You choose your friends 
and foes badly. This letter will show that you 
make war with honest men and trust rogues and 
knaves. We tell you, not to win your favor, but 


82 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. IX. 


lest your ruin might bring on us the reproach of 
ending the war by treachery instead of force.” 

The Consul Dentatus who conquered Pyrrhus at 
Beneventum, and compelled him to fly from the 
country, received a great triumph. He captured four 
of the elephants of Pyrrhus, and these great ani¬ 
mals led the triumphal procession as it passed 
through the streets of Koine. The Roman people 
had never seen elephants before, and the triumph 
of Dentatus was like a great circus to them, and as 
strange as would have been the appearance of the 
wooden horse of Troy. 

All Italy now falling to Rome, the Republic began 
to make great roads, and build grand public edi¬ 
fices. It made the Appian Way from Rome to 
Capua, the ruins of which may still be seen. Very 
prosperous times followed the war with Greece. 



A Catapult. 




Chap. X. CARTHAGE MAKES WAR ON ROME. 83 


CHAPTER, X. 


Carthage makes War on Rome. 


OU have heard of the Aryan and the Semitic 



JL (Shemitic) races. Yon may not know what 
these terms mean. As we now are about to give 
some account of a decisive war between these two 
races, in which the Aryan race prevailed, we must 
explain to you these terms as clearly as we are able. 
The English-speaking people are descendants of 
the Aryan race, as were the Latin tribes of Italy, 
the Germans and the Greeks, and all or nearly all 
of the inhabitants of Europe. 

The first seat of the Aryan nations was in Central 
Asia. From this central kingdom, that is lost to 
history, the Aryans migrated to the west. The 
people of the world have been moving westward for 
an unknown period. The Celts occupied the conti¬ 
nent of Europe, and so the Celtic race were the 
pioneers. The name Arya or Aryan is from a 
Sanskrit word meaning a ploughman or agricul¬ 
turist, and is commonly applied to that Sanskrit¬ 
speaking people who emigrated from Central Asia 
to India between 2000 and 1600 b.c. The races 
whose languages are wholly or partly derived from 
the Sanskrit are grouped under the name Aryan or 
Indo-European. After the Celts came Aryan mi¬ 
grations to what is now Italy and Greece. These 
Aryan immigrants probably found their way into 
Europe by the Hellespont. The Hindus in Asia 


84 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. 


Chap. X. 


and the Persians belong to the eastern division of 
the Aryan race. The roots of many words in all 
the languages spoken by the descendants of the 
primitive Aryan race are the same. 

The Semitic, or Shemitic, race is supposed to have 
been descended from Shem, the eldest son of Noah. 
It comprises the Syrians, Hebrews, and Arabs, and 
the inhabitants of the Punic coasts. 

The word “Punic” is from the Latin Punicus, 
meaning Phoenician and applied to the Cathagin- 
ians. It came to mean faithless, or treacherous; 
but this is not the meaning in which we shall use 
it in the story of the Punic, or Cathaginian, war. 

In the Punic war, Pome represented the Aryan 
race, and Carthage the Semitic race, and the two 
races contended for the mastery of the world. The 
Hamitic race were the native Africans. 



Carthaginian Coin. 


Carthage was the rich port of Africa, founded, 
according to the poets, by Queen Dido. She made 
herself mistress of the ocean, and so of maritime 
kingdoms and nations. She became very proud 
and splendid, the home of the arts. She also was 




Chap. X. CARTHAGE MAKES WAR ON ROME. 85 


a seat of learning, and fostered the spirit of dis¬ 
covery. The blue Mediterranean was her empire. 

Rome on the other side of the sea was a growing 
power. Carthage had navies, Rome had armies. 
Each began to want more air, more land, more sea 
— more room. In each was kindled a desire to 
rule the then known world. The end of the growth 
and ambition of these two cities, Carthage and 
Rome, representing the Semitic and the Aryan 
races, was the Punic wars. And, little Arthur, 
our own history was largely determined by the 
great struggle, for all present events are the out¬ 
growths of the past. We are the supposed descen¬ 
dants of the Japhetic or Aryan races; the Punic peo¬ 
ple, of the Semitic race; and the native Africans, 
of the Hametic race. The Semitic race gave re¬ 
ligion to the Aryan race, and the Aryan race, as con¬ 
verts, have come to possess the enlightened world. 

Carthage, or New Town (Latin Carthago), was 
situated in what is now Tunis. Whether the tra¬ 
dition of Dido of Tyre be true or not, it was doubt¬ 
less settled by the Semitic race of Phoenicians. 
In the day of her wealth, power, and glory Carthage 
numbered some seven hundred thousand souls. 
She sent out colonies into the neighboring islands, 
established her power in Sardinia and in Sicily, 
and sent her ships beyond the Pillars of Hercules, 
as Gibraltar was then called. 

The defeat of Pyrrhus, and the subjugation of 
the South of Italy by the Romans, brought the two 
nations face to face. A glance at the map will 
show you the situation on sea and land. 

There was a horde of pirates called Mamertines 
who had settled in Messana, Sicily. King Hiero 
of Syracuse threatened to expel them, and they 


86 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. 


Chap. X. 


appealed for help to Eome. The Romans hesitated, 
but when they saw that the Carthaginian power in 
Sicily was a menace to their own coast, they re¬ 
solved to possess Sicily, as a protection against 
invasion. They therefore set themselves to build 
a navy, and soon constructed an hundred or more 
war galleys. A naval battle was fought in which 
the Romans were successful; the Romans made 
themselves the masters of Sicily, and so ended the 
first Punic war. 

In this war, which in our view was unjust on the 
part of the Romans, a remarkable example of 
Roman honor was added to the grand tales of old. 
There was a plain man named Regulus, of great 
good sense and strength of character, who, like 
Cincinnatus, tilled his simple farm, and who was 
respected by all classes of people. His honor was 
such that the people wished to have him rewarded 
with public office, and he was elected consul. The 
office compelled him to assume command of the 
army in the Punic War. He enlarged the Roman 
fleet to more than three hundred war vessels, and 
put 140,000 men on board of them, defeated the 
fleet of Carthage, and landed his army on the Car¬ 
thaginian shore. 

The Roman senate ordered Regulus to send back 
the fleet and a part of the army, and with a part of 
the army to advance on Carthage. 

As he was about to obey the latter command 
there came to him a messenger, who said: — 

“Your family are suffering and need you; your 
farm has failed, and your wife and children know 
not what to do.” 

Regulus replied by sending a messenger to the 
Senate, asking to be relieved of his command. The 




ROM AX WAR GALLEY FROM A BAS-RELIEF 















































































































Chap. X. CARTHAGE MAKES WAR ON ROME. 87 


Senate ordered him to go on, and promised to care 
for his family. 

Kegulus advanced towards Carthage, conquering 
as he went. But an event occurred like that which 
had happened before. The Carthaginians were 
strengthened by the arrival of a large body of Greek 
soldiers, who brought with them a troop of ele¬ 
phants. The Greek general Zanthippus marshalled 
his army against the invaders, putting a hundred 
elephants in the van. These elephants had been 
taught to rush upon an enemy and trample him 
under foot. Kegulus’s army was thrown into a 
panic and defeated, and he himself was taken 
prisoner. 

He was kept in confinement for a time, and then 
the Carthaginians selected him as their commis¬ 
sioner to go back to Rome and arrange terms of 
peace. They asked him: — 

“Will you swear that you will return if the 
Senate refuse to make peace?” 

“I will pledge you my honor to return,” said 
Kegulus. 

When Kegulus reached Rome he refused to enter 
the gates of the city. 

“I am no longer a Roman officer,” he said, “but 
a prisoner of Carthage. I am an old man, and am 
not worth exchanging as a prisoner. My honest 
opinion is that the Romans ought not to make 
peace with the Carthaginians.” 

The Senate resolved to follow his advice. 

“ But you surely will not return to Carthage, ” 
said certain of his friends. 

“ I have given my word of honor,” was his reply, 
“and it cannot be broken.” 

He refused to return home to see his family, but, 


88 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. 


Chap. X. 


turning his back on the walls of Rome forever, he 
passed away from the shadows of the Seven Hills, 
amid the admiration and tears of those who held 
honor as more precious than life. He was put to 
death by torture by the Carthaginians, but he left 
behind him an immortal name and example, which 
has ever been one of the noblest tales of Rome. 

Rome had made war on Carthage, and after a 
period the Punic city marched out in her pride to 
cross the sea and to carry war to the gates of Rome. 
There were three Punic wars. 

In order to make these wars plain, let us give here 
a short table of events and dates, which will pre¬ 
pare you to see the historic outlines of the long 
story: — 

264 b.c. The first Punic war begins in Sicily. 

249 b.c. Regulus goes to Rome as a prisoner of honor. 

241 b.c. The first Punic war ends. Peace for twenty- 
four years. 

219 b.c. Hannibal besieges and captures Saguntum. 

218 b.c. (Spring) Roman ambassadors demand satisfac¬ 
tion. 

Declaration of second Punic war. 

218 b.c. Hannibal crosses the Alps. 

217 b.c. Hannibal makes war against Rome. 

216 b.c. Battle of Cannse. 

205 b.c. Hannibal is defeated by Scipio. 

200 b.c. Peace concluded and lasts fifty-two years. 

145 b.c. Carthage destroyed by Rome. Third Punic 
war. 

The Romans now possessed the whole peninsula 
of Italy as far north as Ariminum. Beyond this 
lay the country of the Gauls. The tribes of the 
Gauls who lived on the Italian side of the Alps 
were called cisalpine; and those who lived over the 
other side of the Alps, transalpine. 


Chap. X. CARTHAGE MAKES WAR ON ROME. 89 

The cisalpine Gauls were conquered by Marcus 
Claudius Marcellus. 

The Carthaginians established a colony in Spain 
and called it New Carthage or Carthagena. The 
Alps and the two Gauls lay between Carthagena 
and Rome. 

The chief of the New Carthage colony was 
Hamilcar. He had four sons, whom he called 
lions’ whelps; 
and he brought 
them up to hate 
Rome, and to 
train themselves 
for war with the 
Romans. One of 
these sons was 
named Hannibal. 

When this boy 
was nine years 
old, his father 
brought him to 
an altar of Baal, 
and made him 
take an oath to 
become a foe to 
Rome, and never 
to cease to seek 
the overthrow of 
the Roman race. 

Hannibal had a Hannibal, 

brother named Hasdrubal. The two brothers seem 
to have loved each other, and their hearts were 
wedded in arts and arms. We shall have a dread¬ 
ful story to tell of the last time that Hannibal saw 
the face of his brother Hasdrubal. 




90 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. 


Chap. X. 


Hannibal when yet a young man was placed at 
the head of the Carthaginian army. He began to 
wage war with Kerne as he had vowed at the altar 
of Baal at the age of nine. He resolved to lead an 
army from Spain over the Alps, and to light Rome 
beneath the blue skies of Italy. So he left his 
brother Hasdrubal in Spain with 10,000 men; and 
with some 102,000 men, Moorish horsemen, and a 
troop of elephants, he marched up the mountains, 
and hoped that when he should descend, the cis¬ 
alpine Gauls whom the Romans had subdued would 
welcome him. 

How Hannibal brought his elephants from Africa 
to Spain, we do not know. But he drove them 
across the Rhone on rafts covered with earth, that 
drifted away from the shore while the animals yet 
seemed to be on land. 

But if it seem strange that these great animals 
could have been transported across seas, we can 
easily see how they could be made bridges in lakes 
and streams. Standing side by side in such a 
situation, planks used to be placed on their backs, 
and heavy burdens of war borne across them. 
Troops used to light on such bridges, the ele¬ 
phants trumpeting or spouting water in the air. 
It is claimed by Pliny and Arrian that the oriental 
nations once raised armies of elephants numbering 
500,000 and even 700,000. 

The Roman army at this time was led by Publius 
Cornelius Scipio, the father of the great Scipio. 
A battle was fought at Cannae, only live days’ 
march from Rome, on an open plain where Hanni¬ 
bal could use elephants and his Moorish horse. 
Hannibal won a complete victory over the Romans, 
and obtained so much spoil that he sent to Car- 


Chap. X. CARTHAGE MAKES WAR ON ROME. 91 


thage a basket containing 10,000 gold rings which 
had been worn by Roman knights. More than 
40,000 Romans were left dead on the field. 

After this battle he might have marched directly 
to Rome, and probably have captured the city. 
But he neglected to follow up his advantage, and 
lost his great opportunity. He always looked back 
to this loss of that decisive hour as the misfortune 
of his life. 

Livy says that when Hannibal set out to march 
from the Ebro, he saw a vision. The poet-histo¬ 
rian thus pictures it: — 

“ He saw in his sleep a warrior of godlike aspect, 
who said he had been sent from Jove to be the 
guide of Hannibal into Italy; only let him follow, 
and never turn his eyes away from him. At first, 
he thought, he followed the figure in awe, without 
glancing round him or behind him; then, wonder¬ 
ing in himself, with the curiosity of human nature, 
what it could be that he was thus forbidden to look 
back at, he could no longer refrain his eyes; when 
he saw behind him a serpent of enormous size roll¬ 
ing along and sweeping down trees and underwood, 
and followed by a storm and the crashing of thunder. 
Then, when he asked what the monster was or what 
it portended, he heard a voice say that it was ‘the 
desolation of Italy — only let him still press for¬ 
wards, and ask no questions, but suffer the future 
to remain hidden fom his view . 9 ” 

Whether this story be fanciful or not, there came 
to Hannibal a terrible night in the midst of his 
heroic achievements and great victories. 

Hasdrubal had resolved to join his victorious 
brother in Italy. He led his army over the Alps by 
nearly the same route that his brother had taken, 


92 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. 


Chap. X. 


and reduced Lombardy. He sent a message to Han¬ 
nibal that he was on his way to meet him. But 
this despatch fell into the hands of the Roman con¬ 
sul Claudius Nero, who was encamped at Yenusia, 
watching Hannibal. Nero made a night march 
against Hasdrubal with 7000 picked men. He sur¬ 
prised him, and defeated and killed him. The 
death of Hasdrubal is thus pictured by Livy: — 

“He it was who kept his men up, while they 
fought, by cheering them, and facing every per¬ 
sonal danger like themselves; he it was who, when 
they were tired out, and gave way from very weari¬ 
ness and fatigue, reawoke their spirit now by 
entreaties and now by reproaches; he rallied them 
when they fled, and restored the battle at many 
points where the struggle had ceased. At last, 
when it was clear that the day was the enemy’s, 
refusing to survive the fate of the army which had 
followed him as leader, he spurred his horse right 
into one of the Roman cohorts. There he fell, 
fighting to the last, as became a son of Hamilcar 
and a brother of Hannibal.” 

The consul ordered that the head of Hasdrubal 
should be cut off, and borne to the Roman army, 
and placed in view of Hannibal. 

As Hannibal was waiting for his brother, the 
victorious Romans returned, bearing aloft Hasdru- 
bal’s head. 

Hannibal had not seen his brother for eleven 
years. When the ghastly head appeared before 
him, he gazed at it with horror, and is said to have 
exclaimed: — 

“ I see in that dead face the fate of Carthage! ” 

If he uttered these words, they were prophetic. 

The Roman Senate under the influence of the 


Chap X. CARTHAGE MAKES WAR ON ROME. 93 

great Roman general, Scipio, was led to see that 
the best way to draw away Hannibal from the plains 
of Rome was to threaten Carthage and her colonies. 
Scipio was sent to Sicily, and the Carthaginian 
senate recalled Hannibal. With a sad heart he 
took up his march from Italy, which was- once in 
his power, but which he had lost by the indecision 
of the hours after Cannae, when he was flushed 
with victory. 

Scipio conquered the Carthaginian army, and at 
Zama, in Africa, where 20,000 Carthaginians are 
said to have perished, the fate of Carthage and of 
the Semitic race was decided. Carthage was com¬ 
pelled to make peace with Rome, and so ended the 
second Punic war, in 201. 

Scipio returned to Rome in triumph, and received 
the name of Africanus. He had a brother, Lucius 
Scipio, who was such a successful soldier in Asia 
that he received the name of Asiaticus. 

Scipio retired to his farm in his last years. He 
left a daughter, who married Tiberius Sempronius 
Gracchus and founded the family of the Gracchi. It 
was his widow Cornelia, who, when asked what 
were her jewels, replied by pointing out her children 
and saying, “These are my jewels,” and who when 
spoken of as the daughter of Africanus said that 
she held it a greater honor to be the mother of the 
Gracchi. 

The third Punic war was short. In the process 
of time, Rome, having grown very powerful, felt 
that Carthage ought not to be any longer allowed 
to exist as her rival. Marcus Porcius Cato, the 
Roman ambassador, of whom we shall speak in a 
separate chapter, returned from Africa and brought 
to the Senate a bunch of figs. 


94 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC . 


Chap. X. 


“They are yet fresh,” said he. “They came 
from Carthage. So near to us are our enemies. 
Delenda est Carthago ! The figs are fresh! Delenda 
est Carthago /” (“Carthage must be destroyed.”) 

The Roman Senate understood the old man’s 
meaning and sent another army to Africa, and 
Carthage was destroyed. On the same day that 
Carthage fell, Corinth was taken by the Romans. 

And what became of Hannibal, who might have 
made himself master of the world? 

He became an exile. The Carthaginians them¬ 
selves turned against him. He wandered from 

country to country, a 
beggar for new armies 
with which to renew 
war with Rome. He 
grew old and gray, but 
the fire of his hatred to 
the Romans never died 
in his heart. He ful¬ 
filled the vow of his 
youth. 

The first place that 
he sought for refuge was 
Syria. Rome sent an 
embassy to Syria to ask 
the intention of the Syr¬ 
ian court in regard to 
the exile. It is said 
that the great Scipio, 
the hero of Zama, and 
the popular idol of 
Rome, was one of the 
embassy, although it 
When Scipio met Han- 



Scipio Africanus. 

would not seem probable, 
nibal, he said to him: — 


Chap. X. CARTHAGE MAKES WAR OK ROME. 95 


“Whom do you hold to be the greatest hero that 
ever lived? ” 

“ Alexander, ” said Hannibal; “ with a small army 
he conquered the world. ” 

“Who next?” asked Scipio. 

“ Pyrrhus; he perfected the art of war. ” 

“And next?” 

“Myself; and if I had conquered you , I should 
have been greater than Alexander or Pyrrhus.” 

The age of seventy found him an exile in Bi- 
thynia in Asia Minor. The king of Bithynia made 
a treaty of peace with the Romans, and in it he 
agreed to surrender Hannibal. 

He tried to escape from the Eastern palace, 
where he lived, but all the gates were found guarded 
against him. He swallowed a potion of poison, 
and went and lay down in his room. They found 
him dead. Pity him! 



Balista (Stone-Tlirower). 




96 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. XI. 


CHAPTER XI. 


The Conquest of the Eastern World. — Caesar. 

ETER the fall of Carthage, the Greek empire 



-iTA- went down before the eagles of Rome. Alex¬ 
ander the Great had once conquered the world; and 
Rome, seeing the nations falling before her, became 
ambitious to make herself the mistress of the world. 
She became proud and cruel. Her unjust wars for 
the sake of glory were the means of her losing her 
virtue, which had been her strength. The Levant, 
as the East is called, was hers. She turned her 
eyes towards the West. Alexander was the hero 
of the Greeks, Hannibal of Carthage; and Julius 
Caesar was destined to be the hero of Rome. 

Caesar was to conquer the West for her, and amid 
her glory to disobey her, and turn his army against 
her, and make her his slave. Then were to come 
the twelve Caesars of the Empire and the Repub¬ 
lic; and the days of Roman virtue were to be a 
memory, and a nobler republic was at last to rise 
in a then unknown world. 

They were cruel days that led up to the fall of 
the Republic and the founding of the Empire. 
Nations, like men, do not lapse from justice and 
virtue at once. 

Rome governed her conquered provinces by ex¬ 
consuls, or men who had been consuls. These were 
called pro-consuls. 

Her victorious generals returned to her to be 


Chap. XI. CONQUEST OF EASTERN WORLD. 97 


hailed by festal celebrations and arches of triumph. 
She came to feel that all this injustice was right 
because it was successful. In her view triumphal 
arches expressed the will of the gods. 

We are sorry to turn away from the bright 
Golden Age and the virtuous days of the Republic, 
and to begin the tale of Rome in her splendor, 
pride, and decline. 

There were two ambitious men who became lead¬ 
ers of the people at this period, whose names stand 
for feud and hate. They were ambitious, not for 
the welfare of their fellow-men, and for right, 
honor, and noble deeds, but for themselves. Their 
names were Marius and Sulla. 

Sulla was a patrician, and Marius was a repre¬ 
sentative of the plebeians. They hated each other; 
and in their contests they 
no longer appealed, like 
the consuls and tribunes 
of old, to the consciences 
of the people, but to the 
soldier. Each seems to 
have practised arts to over¬ 
awe the minds of the peo¬ 
ple and to compel their 
victims of tyranny to fol¬ 
low their wills.' It is a 
sad day for any nation 
when public men appeal 
to any other power than 
the consciences of men. 

Remember this, little Arthur. A righteous man 
will appeal only to what is right. 

Rome carried war into Asia, against Mithridates. 
Sulla led her armies. Just before the war, but 



98 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. XI. 


while Sulla was absent from the city, Marius 
induced the Senate to change the command of the 
army from Sulla to himself. He sent two tribunes 
to the army to inform Sulla of the change. 

“How dare you bring me such a message ?” said 
Sulla. He ordered the two messengers to be killed, 
and marched to Rome. 

When Marius heard of the murder of the messen¬ 
gers, he ordered the execution of some of the lead¬ 
ing partisans of Sulla. 
The Senate now favored 
the cause of Sulla, but 
ordered that he should 
encamp outside of the 
walls of Rome. 

Sulla pretended to 
obey the Senate, but at 
an opportune moment 
ordered the troops to 
march into the city. 
Marius opposed him, 
but he began to burn 
the houses of those who 
impeded his way. 

Marius fled and by 
Sulla’s orders the Senate declared him to be a 
public enemy and an outlaw, and offered a reward 
for his head. 

Marius had many adventures and escapes, but he 
at last crossed the Mediterranean and reached the 
ruins of Carthage. Here he lived in a hut. He 
was an old man now, over seventy years of age; 
and one would have thought that his exile amid the 
Punic ruins would have softened his heart and led 
him to long for the virtues that bring p^ace of soul. 



Marius. 


Chap. XL CONQUEST OF EASTERN WORLD. 99 

He once said to a messenger who came from a 
Roman officer to order him away, “ Go, tell your 
master that you have seen Caius Marius sitting an 
exile amid the ruins of Carthage , 99 — a picture of 
fallen greatness and changed fortunes which will 
forever live in the imagination, and which has been 
and will be often quoted. 

But Marius was restless in his hut amid the ruins 
of the once proud city. Sulla went forth to the 
Asiatic war against Mitliridates and as soon as 



Coin of Mithridates. 


Marius knew that he was gone, he returned to 
Italy, gathered an army, and pretended to espouse 
the cause of the people. He was wrinkled and 
gray, he wore the costume of a rustic; he was 
moody and revengeful, burning at what he held to 
be a sense of his wrongs. 

He advanced on Rome with his army of volun¬ 
teers. The Senate sent messengers to him to for¬ 
bid him to proceed further, but he gave them no 
heed. He entered Rome, beheaded one of the 
consuls and set up the head as an object of terror, 
and then began the destruction of the city. 

He ordered the partisans of Sulla, wherever found, 



100 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. XI. 


to be killed without trial. He invented dreadful 
deaths for his enemies. He wreaked vengeance 
upon his native city, and had his revenge to the 
full. He was again master of Koine. 

Was he happy? Amid his triumph of blood he 
fell sick. His pains were terrible. He imagined 
himself Sulla, and at the head of the army in Asia. 

“ Mithridates! ” he was heard to cry. He shouted 
orders to the imaginary army of Sulla, and so war¬ 
ring in his dreams he became exhausted by frenzy, 
and sunk into the sleep of death. 

Sulla returned and put to death the leading men 
who had followed Marius, and thus, between these 
two selfish and characterless men, the streets of 
Kome for years ran red with blood. There was 
no Cincinnatus to return to the plough now, no 
Kegulus; Kome was the prey of the brutal pas¬ 
sions of men. 

To support these conquests of blood and wicked 
ambitions, the honest people were mercilessly taxed. 
The farms had to feed and support the tyranny, and 
the whole of Italy was filled with terror and woe. 

When Sulla had taken possession of the supreme 
power in Kome, and was looking over the list of 
public men, in order to arrange a new system of 
government, his eye met a name which caused him 
to hesitate. 

It was Julius Caesar. He was born July 12th, 
100 B.C. 

It was a name of destiny. Julius Caesar was to 
conquer the world for Kome, and Kome for himself; 
and well might Sulla pause at that name. 

Caesar was a young man then. He was a patri¬ 
cian by birth, a descendant from a long line of noble 
families, some of whom had made their deeds his- 



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JITLTUS CAESAR 








































































































































































































































* 































































































































































Chap. XI. CONQUEST OF EASTERN WORLD. 101 


toric. He would seem to belong to the side of 
Sulla, who was a patrician; but his heart had turned 
to the popular party of Marius. He had an ardent 
nature, and he saw right and justice in the cause 
of the people. 

What should Sulla do with young Julius Caesar? 

Sulla was about to put his name on the list of 
proscribed citizens, but some of his friends per¬ 
suaded him not to thus take from the young man 
his citzenship and good name. So Sulla suspended 
judgment, but ordered Caesar to give up his wife 
and friends. The wife, whose name was Cornelia, 
was the daughter of Cinna, a partisan of Marius, 
and the friends of young Caesar were for the most 
part in sympathy with the popular cause. 

Caesar refused to become false to his wife and 
friends, and fled from the cit}^. Then Sulla pro¬ 
scribed him, and deprived him of his offices and 
titles, and treated him as one of the enemies of 
Rome. 

But Caesar was a young man of high spirits and 
full of hope. He seemed to be sure of a great 
future career. Some of the patricians went to Sulla 
to ask him to revoke his judgment. But the wise 
man understood character better than they. Caesar 
had seemed to be fond of society and pleasure, but 
Sulla had noticed that he was always studying like 
one who had some serious purpose in view. 

“Young as he is,” said Sulla, “there is force in 
him; Marius was one, but there are many Mariuses 
in Caesar! ” 

Caesar had studied Greek, and was a master of 
rhetoric and history. He had interested himself in 
the art of public speaking. His heart was given to 
the preparation for a public career. 


102 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. XI. 


Caesar in exile went to Rhodes. Here, on the 
island in the blue .dSgean, he met a former preceptor 
and continued his studies. He prepared himself to 
become a master of oratory. Sulla died, and Caesar 
cautiously returned to Rome. 

He appeared in the Forum as an orator and a 
champion of the people. His oratory carried the 
popular feeling: he soon found himself a hero, and 
his power grew. 

4 The Roman Forum was the grandest square in 
the world in Caesar’s time. It was surrounded by 
lofty edifices, and was full of porticos of art, and 
of the statues of the great. Monuments, statues, 
and columns crowded upon each other. The people 
gathered under the white wings of the porticos to 
listen to the orators. In the triumphal and festal 
days the Forum was a glory by day and a splendor 
by night, if night it knew. 

There was a long stone platform in the Forum 
called the Rostrum. It was adorned with the beaks 
of ships that had been captured in war. From 
this platform great orators spoke on public occa¬ 
sions. Here Caesar delivered two funeral orations, 
over members of his own family, and in them 
pleaded the cause of the rights of the people. 

He was elected to office, and he rose from one 
position of influence to another until he was made 
quaestor, and was finally elected consul. 

His rise was not altogether honorable. He spent 
his wealth in entertainments and public shows to 
influence the people for political ends. He studied 
the art of pleasing the people for the sake of his 
own advancement. But he was a patrician who 
had espoused the cause of the people, and for this 
reason he became the idol of Rome. Wherever he 



0 50 100 200 300 400 FEET 

1 -'- - 1 - — "- 7 - ' 


FORUM OF TRAJAN. 










































































Chap. XI. CONQUEST OF EASTERN WORLD. 103 

went, the streets shouted; wherever he sat down 
was the head of the festal table. His ambition 
grew: like Alexander, he must have the earth — 
nothing less would content him. 

But before we go further we must tell you some¬ 
thing in regard to his great rival, Pompey. This 
hero conquered the East, while Caesar subdued the 
West. Caesar afterwards conquered Pompey, and 
turned his victories to his 
own account. Caius Pom- 
peius Magnus, or Pompey 
the Great, was born 106 b.c. 

He was bred to the life of a 
soldier. He was a partisan 
of Sulla. He ended the 
Marian war and received a 
triumph; and the Servile 
war, as an uprising of slaves 
led by Spartacus was called, 
and was elected consul, and 
became a popular hero. He 
left the aristocratic party, 
and became a leader and 
voice of the people. In 67-66 he drove the pirates 
from the Mediterranean; in 65-62 he conquered 
Mithridates, king of Pontus: Tigranes, king of 
Armenia; and Antiochus, king of Syria. He sub¬ 
dued the Jewish nation, captured Jerusalem, en¬ 
tered the Holy of Holies in the Jewish temple, 
which he found dark, and made Palestine a 
province of Rome. He entered Rome in triumph 
in 61 b.c. He became a friend of Caesar, and the 
united heroes joined with them in their political 
schemes, Crassus, a man of great wealth and in¬ 
fluence in Rome. The three were called the First 
Triumvirate. 




104 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. XI. 


Caesar was given the command of the provinces 
of the west; he subdued Gaul, Germany, and entered 
Britain, and made Rome the mistress of the western 
world. 

Pompey and Caesar became jealous of each other. 
Pompey had married Julia, the daughter of Caesar, 
and she had proved an unfaithful wife. Caesar 
became more and more the favorite of the people, 
and Pompey went over to the patrician or the aris¬ 
tocratic party, and endeavored to deprive Caesar of 
his offices and honors. 

The Senate ordered Caesar to resign the command 
of the army and return to Rome. • Caesar returned 
answer that he would do so if Pompey would do the 
same. The Senate demanded that he obey the order 
without conditions, or be regarded as a public 
enemy. The tribunes objected to this resolution. 
Should Caesar obey the decree of the Senate, like a 
loyal citizen of the Republic, or should he diso¬ 
bey, and make himself a conqueror and king? His 
legions were loyal to him. Should he be the ser¬ 
vant or master of Rome? If he were to disobey 
the Senate, return to Italy, and seize the city, the 
Republic of Rome would end. On the one side was 
right, and honor, and patriotism; on the other his 
own ambition. Which should he choose? 



C.ESAr’s BRIDGE BUILT OVER THE RHINE. 










































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































• 2 


. 


























Chap. XII. CAESAR CROSSES THE RUBICON. 105 


CHAPTER XT r . 


Caesar crosses the Rubicon. — Fall of the Republic of Rome, 
HE die is cast.” 



JL So Caesar is reported to have said on cross¬ 
ing the Rubicon. The river was in Cisalpine Gaul, 
on the boundary of the Roman Empire. Caesar 
crossed the stream, in disobedience to the Senate, 
and to the Roman law which forbade a general to 
approach Rome with his army, after a foreign war, 
except when invited to a triumph. The Rubicon 
was a small stream, and the territory around it, of 
little worth; but when Caesar crossed the boundary, 
the Roman Republic fell, after an existence of nearly 
five hundred years. Caesar crossed the Rubicon, 
and before him lay Rome, and towards that city of 
his great ambition he marched with his victorious 
legions. 

There Pompey the Great waited with a large 
body of senators the decision of his rival. When 
the leading patricians heard that Caesar had crossed 
the Rubicon, they fled under the lead of Pompey. 
Caesar won Italy in sixty days. He was made dic¬ 
tator, and the ambitious dreams of his youth seemed 
fulfilled. 

Pompey with his followers and soldiers gathered 
at Brundusium, on the Adriatic. Caesar followed 
him. He crossed the sea to Greece, and on the 
shore opposite Italy he gathered a large army with 


106 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. XII. 



which to make a last effort to regain the ancient 
privileges of Rome. 

Caesar with a small army crossed the sea to meet 
him. His soldiers were so full of faith in the 
destiny of their leader, and so confident of victory, 
that no ordinary force could stand before them. 

“Friends,” said Caesar, on the stormy waters, as 
he went before his little army, one dark windy 

night, on a slender 
ship, — “friends, 
you have nothing 
to fear. You are 
carrying Coesar!” 

The two armies 
entered Thessaly. 
Here they met on 
the plain of Phar- 
salia. Pompeyhad 
the larger army, 
and felt certain of 
victory. Had he 
not subdued the 
East? Caesar had 
better trained le¬ 
gions, and was as 
certain of victory. 

Julius Osar. Had he not § ained 

the empire of the 

West? Both Pompey and Caesar believed*in the 
star of destiny. 

The trumpets sounded in the camp of Caesar, and 
with loud shouts the battle began. The disciplined 
legions of Caesar were soon masters of the field, 
and they followed up their vantage by the destruc¬ 
tion of the senatorial army. Pompey fled from the 


Chap. XII. C^JSAR CROSSES THE RUBICON. 107 

red field to his camp, and sunk down in his tent, a 
fallen man. His star had set, after thirty years. 
The soldiers of Caesar appeared before his tent, 
and he mounted his horse, and fled again. He 
sought refuge in Egypt; in the land of the Ptole¬ 
mies. There he was assassinated by the friends 
of Caesar, and his body was burned on a funeral pile. 

When Caesar came to the tent of Pompey, after 
the battle of Pharsalia, he found it crowned with 
laurel, and set with banquet tables with flowing 
wine vessels and cups of silver and gold. The 
tent had been prepared to welcome the return of 
Pompey as victor. 

Alas for Pompey the Great! As he passed 
through the beautiful Vale of Tempe in his flight, 
he thirsted for water. But he had no cup of silver 
or gold or of any kind out of which to drink. So 
he kneeled down and drank like an animal from a 
flowing stream. 

Csesar sailed for Egypt. Pompey’s head was 
brought to him there, for that had not been burned 
with his body. Caesar’s triumph was now complete. 
It is said that the beautiful column among the ruins 
of Alexandria, Egypt, known as Pompey’s Pillar, 
was erected by the order of Caesar, in memory of 
his former friend. Whether the tradition be true 
or not, Caesar always respected the memory of Pom¬ 
pey the Great. 

Caesar conquered Egypt, returned to Pome in 
triumph, and was made imperator or emperor. The 
Sacred College elected him Pontifex Maximus; so in 
all things, earthly and sacred, he had ascended to 
the height of the Roman world. The people hailed 
him as a god. But he fell suddenly like Pompey 
in the midst of his pride and glory. While govern- 


108 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. XII. 


ing the world, he had himself been governed by his 
lower passions, — lust, appetites, jealousy. There 
were flaws in his glittering shield; there were foes 
in his heart, and enemies among his supposed 
friends. His counsellors knew that he was not a 
god, but a very weak man, as are all men who are 
not themselves ruled by their moral sense. They 
knew that he had gained his power not for the 
Empire, but for Caesar, and that he employed it for 
Caesar; that ambition was his ruling passion, and 
that to this end he would doubtless seek to perpe¬ 
trate his power. 

A conspiracy was formed to take his life. Into 
this conspiracy entered some of his most intimate 
friends. The name of “ king ” was still hateful to 
the Roman people; and although Caesar had refused 
that title, the conspirators were sure that kingship 
was the imperator’s secret wish and aim. 

We have told you of the Sibyl and her books. 
Caesar was preparing a new war in the East, with 
the Parthians. He ordered that the Sibylline books 
should be consulted. The priests declared that the 
prophecies showed that the Parthians could only 
be conquered by a king. 

“ Make Caesar king! ” ran through Rome. It 
was believed that a secret plan had been formed to 
crown Caesar king on the Ides of March (the 15th). 

“ Beware of the Ides of March, ” said a soothsayer 
to Caesar. He may have known of the secret plan. 

It was ancient Brutus who expelled the kings. 
The conspiracy to kill Caesar was led by one of his 
descendants, himself a friend of Caesar. 

On the Ides of March Caesar went to the Senate. 
On his way he met the soothsayer. 

“ The Ides of March have come, ” he said. 


Chap. XII. CAESAR CROSSES THE RUBICON. 109 


“Yes; but they have not passed .” 

We do not know that the story is true, but it is 
often repeated. There is a spirit of great events 
that make sensitive people prophetic, and sense the 
thought of the times, and to become conscious of 
the secrets of others. It may have been so here. 

The Senate met on the Ides of March, in a new 
edifice erected by Pompey the Great. It was a 
pile of art, rich and splendid, and in the great hall 
stood the statue 
of Pompey. It 
is represented 
in art as hold¬ 
ing in its hand 
the globe. The 
leading conspir¬ 
ators were mem¬ 
bers of the 
Senate. These 
crowded around 
Caesar, in the 
imperial hall, 
encompassing 
him, with con¬ 
cealed weapons. 

One of them 
pulled down his 
robe from his 
neck to lay it 
bare. 

Caesar was startled. 

“ This is violence, ” he said. 

One of the senators then struck him with a sword. 
The swords of the other conspirators flashed out, 
and gleamed in a circle around him and pierced 



110 


STORY OF THE REPUBLIC. Chap. XII. 


him. Caesar moved back towards Pompey’s statue, 
and gazed upon his murderers. His blood was flow¬ 
ing. He marked the face of his old friend Brutus. 

“Et tu, Brute!” he is said to have exclaimed. 
“ Thou, too, Brutus ! ” 

He drew his robe over his face, to shut out the 
scene, and fell dead at the foot of the statue. 

A funeral pile was made on the Field of Mars, 
the Boman parade ground. The body was brought 
out of Caesar’s house on a gilded bed, under a can¬ 
opy in the form of a temple, and was covered with 
a cloth of gold. It was allowed to rest in the 
Forum, on the intended way to the funeral pile. 
The golden bed was set on fire in the Forum, and the 
people piled their offerings upon the tongues of the 
flames. A great smoke arose and curled over Borne. 

Caesar was no more. But his influence lived. 
The world has fled from him, as from Pompey. 
There is but one reliance in this changeful world, 
and that is a life righteous in the sight of God. 

“ Veni, vidi, vici,” said Caesar on returning to 
Borne from his triumphs in the West. “Veni, 
Vidi, Vici,” was inscribed upon his banner in the 
long period that celebrated his triumphs. But 
now Death bore the banner and the motto; the 
glittering triumphs of Caesar outshone any in the 
world, but they lacked continuance. Caesar perished 
March 15, 44 b.c. 



Coin of Julius Csesar. 



THE DEATH OF CiESAR. 













































. 







Part III 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE AND THE 
TEN CiESARS. 


CHAPTER XIII. — A Day in Rome in the Time of 
Cato. 

CHAPTER XIV. — A Day in Rome in the Time of 
Horace. 

CHAPTER XV. —In the Gardens of Cicero. 
CHAPTER XVI. —The Augustan Age. 

CHAPTER XVII. — The Birth of Christianity. 
CHAPTER XVIII. —Rome in her Glory. 


Ill 































































CHAPTER XIII. 


A Day in Rome in the Time of Cato. 



ITH Cato of Utica ended the Republic,” 


says a thoughtful writer. The Cato who 


died by his own hand at Utica was the last of the 
old Romans who represented the ancient morals 
and manners: he was a Stoic, and opposed the 
luxury of Rome, and saw in the wealth which was 
expended in selfish pleasure the loss of the public 
character and faith. 

You will like to learn much of this grand old 
Roman family, which represented moral principle, 
as right and wrong were understood at that time. 

Cato the Elder, or the Censor, was born, accord¬ 
ing to the most probable authority, about 234 b.c., at 
Tusculum. His father left him a small farm in the 
Sabine territory. At the age of seventeen, Hanni¬ 
bal having invaded Italy, he became a soldier, and 
continued to defend the Republic for a number of 
years. In the campaigns he met the famous gen¬ 
eral Fabius Maximus, who gave him instruction in 
military affairs and inspired him with his own 
strong prejudices and dislikes. While yet a young 
man, peace being declared, he returned to his Sabine 
farm. 

Near Cato had lived an heroic Roman, Manius 
Curius Dentatus, whose wisdom and valor had re¬ 
pelled the invasion of Pyrrhus. This hero believed 
in living a simple life, — in loving nature and study- 


113 


114 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XIII. 


ing life and the soul. He came to admire the 
character of Dentatus, and to wish to live and to 
be like him. 

So he applied himself to husbandry, and denied 
himself all luxuries, and gave away what he could 
spare to his poorer neighbors. 

He was a lawyer, and a somewhat different one 
from many of the present day. He used to go on 
certain mornings to the small towns near his farm 
to plead the cause of those who needed legal help, 
which he did for the sake of justice alone. He 
would then return to work in the fields. He lived 
and dressed like his own servants and ate with them 
at the table. 

Valerius Flaccus, a noble Eoman who lived 
near the Sabine farm of Cato, persuaded the latter 
to remove to Rome. Here, by the purity of his 
character, his restrained life, his knowledge of law, 
and his eloquence, he rose to distinction. He was 
made a military tribune, then quaestor, aedile, 
praetor, and finally consul. Simplicity, justice, 
and integrity characterized all that he did. He 
afterwards became the censor of the public morals, 
and severely punished luxurious living. 

For the old days of Roman virtue were disappear¬ 
ing, the people lived for pleasure amid retinues of 
slaves; their lives were impure; wine ran red at 
the tables; insincerity, intrigue, jealousy, and ri¬ 
valry were almost everywhere to be found. Many 
leading Romans died violent deaths, poisoning was 
common, and the old family relations were but 
little regarded. Brutal shows and vulgar plays 
entertained the populace, the result, as Cato 
thought, of Greek education. To all of this life 
and its tendencies to decay Cato was opposed, and 


Chap. XIII. 


ROME, TIME OF CATO. 


115 


he did all in his power to restrain it, although his 
own life has been criticised. He believed in the 
old Roman virtue; of living for virtue for the 
sake of virtue, and in practising self-denial for 
the good of the public. He died in the eighty-fifth 
year of his age, as full of honors as of years, and 
left an honorable family to perpetuate his virtues 
and good name. 

Marcus Cato, the Stoic, surnamed Uticensis from 
his tragic death at Utica, was a great-grandson of 
the Censor, and was born 95 b.c. He used to visit 
Sulla in his youth, and was 
so shocked at the cruelties 
of the period, that he asked 
his teacher for a sword to 
slay the tyrant. He in¬ 
herited a fortune, but re¬ 
solved in youth to live after 
the simple manner of his 
great ancestor, and to find 
his happiness in the spiritual Insignia of the QuiEstor9 . 
delights of self-denial. 

He met Antipater, the famous Stoic philosopher, 
and found in him a man whose teachings were after 
his own heart. He studied the Stoic philosophy, 
and began to teach and practise it amid the grow¬ 
ing luxury and vice of Rome, which Cato the Elder 
had vainly tried to restrain and correct. 

Who were the Stoics, and what did they believe? 
The Stoics arose in Greece some hundreds of years 
before the Christian era, and followed the teachings 
of the Cynics whose founder was a disciple of 
Socrates. The leading principle of the Stoics was 
that men should lead lives of virtue for the sake of 
virtue alone, and not for hope of reward. They 




116 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XIII. 


believed that true happiness came from self-denial, 
and not from indulgence; that he who gave up his 
desires, had his desires, and to desire nothing that 
is selfish is to possess everything. The founder of 
the system was Zeno (340-260 b.c.). Diogenes of 
Babylon and Antipater of Tarsus were famous 
teachers of the system, and Seneca and Epicte¬ 
tus were leaders of later schools. Their most 
renowned disciple was the emperor, Marcus Aure¬ 
lius Antoninus (120-180 a.d.). We shall speak 
of his writings in another chapter. Juvenal was 
the great Stoic poet. 

The younger Cato was elected military tribune 
and sent to Macedonia. On his arrival he learned 
that his dearly beloved half brother Caepio was 
lying dangerously ill in Thrace. His tender feel¬ 
ings rose above his stoical philosophy; he took a 
boat, and beat over the stormy waters to visit the 
bedside of Caepio. He found him dead, and wept 
like a child, though the Stoics regarded weeping 
as weak, holding that death is as much a blessing 
as life, and all things are predestined for the best 
good of the whole, and that all events are benevo¬ 
lent and blessings. 

He was elected quaestor, and sustained his ances¬ 
tor’s name for integrity. 

He was a friend of Pompey. After the battle of 
Pharsalia he led an army iqto Africa. 

Here he came to Utica, and met Scipio, who 
wished to put the inhabitants of the city to the 
sword. Cato pleaded for mercy, and was left in 
command of the city, while Scipio marched to defeat. 
After the overthrow of Scipio’s army by Caesar, Cato 
felt that the Republic of Rome was lost. He told 
his own soldiers to escape by sea. He himself had 
no wish to survive the Republic. 


Chap. XIII. 


ROME, TIME OF CATO. 


117 


On the evening of the day that his soldiers fled, 
he prepared for death by suicide; for such a death 
was held to be honorable in his times and by his 
philosophy. He sat down and read Plato’s Phcedo, 
a treatise on the immortality of the soul. 

He opened his veins, and was found by his friends 
in a dying condition, and insensible. They bound 
up his wounds, and he revived. 

It is a principle of the Stoics to scorn pain. 
When Cato revived, and understood his condition, 
his philosophy came back to him. He tore open 
his wounds, and sunk dead from the torture, at 
the age of forty-nine. 

When Caesar heard of the event, he exclaimed: 
“ Cato, I grudge thee death, since thou hast grudged 
me the glory of sparing thy life.” 

Cato had large views of life. To him the world 
was all one city; there were no barbarians as other 
nations were called; his countrymen were all man¬ 
kind, and the Rome of the Republic as governed 
by the people was his ideal. The fall of the 
Republic broke his heart. 

Let us visit Rome in the time of Cato. It is the 
day of the triumph of Pompey. A trumpet’s lordly 
voice goes ringing through the mellow air. The 
skies over the Tiber and green hills flash with 
the advent of the sun. Heralds ride to and fro; 
the Forum begins to throng, and the streets are 
beaten by hurrying feet. The balconies of the 
houses are green with laurels and palms, and seem 
to bloom with banners. Soldiers in bright armor, 
and bearing glittering eagles and standards, hurry 
to and fro. 

There is a crash of music. “Io triomphe!” — 
the great triumphal procession is forming and mov- 


118 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XIII. 


ing. It is to march for two days. Look at the ban¬ 
ners ! They bear the names of nine hundred cities 
and a thousand fortresse.s that Pompey has con¬ 
quered. 

Pompey comes, the crowds acclaiming. He wears 
the laurel of the Senate. Banners wave, trumpets 
peal, shouts go up that pierce the skies. Beau¬ 
tiful women fill the doors, and dancing-girls strew 
the streets with flowers. Night comes, and the 
Seven Hills blaze with festal lights and torches. 

But these triumphs did not make good and noble 
Boman hearts. A true spirit does not rejoice in the 
fall of another. Cato sees things as they are. He 
longs for the old days when the spirit of Servius 
Tullius was the guide and guardian of the Republic. 



The front of the Pantheon. 





















THE PANTHEON OF AGRTPPA 























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Chap. XIV. A DAY IN ROME WITH HORACE. 119 


CHAPTER XIV. 

A Day in Rome with Horace. 

T HE poet of the Roman people was Horace. 

His poems are the best pictures that we have 
of the habits of Rome in the Augustan Age. In 
them old Rome lives, and for that reason they will 
ever live. 

Horace sprung from the ranks of the people. 
His father had been a slave. He was never ashamed 
to have his humble birth known. 

He made his own name and in¬ 
fluence, and was proud that he 
had earned his own crown. 

His father by his own indus¬ 
try had purchased a small farm 
in Venusia, on the River Aufi- 
dus, near the boundaries of 
Apulia. Here Horace was born, 
b.c. 65, and in the beautiful region of hill, forest, 
and river the young poet was schooled by nature 
to voice the golden age of Roman arts and letters, 
and to pipe the charms of rural life which he held 
to be greater than all. 

His father took him to Rome to be educated. He 
was then twelve years of age. Here he learned 
Greek, and studied the Latin poets, and acquired 
the usual accomplishments of a Roman gentleman. 
In a poem addressed to Maecenas, his patron, 



120 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XIV. 


written in mature years, he thus nobly pictures his 
father’s influence on his schooldays: — 

“ If no man may arraign me of the vice 
Of lewdness, meanness, nor of avarice ; 

If pure and innocent I live, and dear 
To those I love (self-praise is venial here), 

All this I owe my father, who, though poor, 

Lord of some few lean acres, and no more, 

Was loath to send me to the village school, 

Whereto the sons of men of mark and rule, — 
Centurions, and the like, — were wont to swarm, 
With slate and satchel on sinister arm, 

And the poor dole of scanty pence to pay 
The starveling teacher on the quarter-day ; 

But boldly took me, when a boy, to Rome, 

There to be taught all arts that grace the home 
Of knight and senator. To see my dress, 

And slaves attending, you’d have thought, no less 
Than patrimonial fortunes old and great 
Had furnished forth the charges of my state. 

When with my tutors, he would still be by, 

Nor ever let me wander from his eye ; 

And, in a word, he kept me chaste (and this 
Is virtue’s crown) from all that was amiss, — 

Nor such in act.alone, but in repute, 

Till even scandal’s tattling voice was mute. 

No dread had he that men might taunt or jeer, 

Should I, some future day, as auctioneer, 

Or, like himself, as tax-collector, seek 
With petty fees my humble means to eke. 

Nor should I then have murmured. Now I know 
More earnest thanks and loftier praise I owe. 

Reason must fail me, ere I cease to own 
With pride, that I have such a father known ; 

Nor shall I stoop my birth to vindicate, 

By charging, like the herd, the wrong on Fate, 

That I was not of noble lineage sprung: 

Far other creed inspires my heart and tongue. 

For now should Nature bid all living men 
Retrace their years, and live them o’er again, 



PALACE OF THE CiESARS. — HOUSE OF LI VIA. 





















Chap. XIV. A DAY IN ROME WITH HORACE. 


121 


Each culling, as his inclination bent, 

His parents for himself, with mine content, 

I would not choose whom men endow as great 
With the insignia and seats of state ; 

And, though I seemed insane to vulgar eyes, 

Thou wouldst perchance esteem me truly wise, 

In thus refusing to assume the care 
Of irksome state I was unused to bear.” 

Horace was sent to Athens to complete his edu¬ 
cation after the manner of the times. Among his 
fellow-students was Cicero the orator. He entered 
the army, was made military tribune by Brutus, 
and was at the defeat of Brutus at Philippi. He 
returned to Rome to find his estate confiscated, 
and while living in the direst poverty made there 
a literary reputation by writing satires on the times 
and odes on rural life. 

One of the most beautiful satires of Horace is 
called Alphius. It represents an old miser, contrast¬ 
ing with his own life the beauties and pleasures of 
life amid country scenes and character. Pope, when 
a boy eleven years of age, freely translated this 
satire, and his translation has ever been quoted — 

“ How blest is he whose wish and care 
A few paternal acres bound, 

Content to breathe his native air 
On his own ground.” 

Another translation of Horace’s poem begins 
thus: — 


ALPHIUS. 

“ Happy the man, in busy schemes unskilled, 
Who, living simply, like our sires of old, 
Tills the few acres which his father tilled, 
Vexed by no thoughts of usury or gold ; 


122 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XIV. 


“ The shrilling clarion ne’er his slumber mars, 

Nor quails he at the howl of angry seas ; 

He shuns the forum, with its wordy jars, 

* Nor at a great man’s door consents to freeze. 

“ The tender vine-shoots, budding into life, 

He with the stately poplar-tree doth wed, 

Lopping the fruitless branches with his knife, 

And grafting shoots of promise in their stead; 

4 ‘ Or in some valley, up among the hills, 

Watches his wandering herds of lowing kine, 

Or fragrant jars with liquid honey fills, 

Or shears his silly sheep in sunny shine ; 

“ Or when Autumnus o’er the smiling land 
Lifts up his head with rosy apples crowned, 

Joyful he plucks the pears, which erst his hand 
Graffed on the stem they’re weighing to the ground ; 

“ Plucks grapes in noble clusters purple-dyed, 

A gift for thee, Priapus, and for thee, 

Father Sylvanus, where thou dost preside, 

Warding his bounds beneath thy sacred tree. 

“ Now he may stretch his careless limbs to rest, 

Where some old ilex spreads its sacred roof; 

Now in the sunshine lie, as likes him best, 

On grassy turf of close elastic woof.” 

The talents of Horace introduced him to Maecenas, 
the chief counsellor of Augustus, who was a man of 
high birth, wealth, and culture, and Maecenas pre¬ 
sented him to the emperor and the court. Horace 
and Maecenas became warm friends, and the states¬ 
man gave the poet a farm some thirty miles from 
Rome and a few miles from beautiful Tibur, now 
Tivoli. This estate is known to fame as his Sabine 
farm. Here Horace lived, wrote, and entertained 
his friends, and thence visited Rome. 




» 






Chap. XIV. A DAY IN ROME WITH HORACE . 123 

You will have liked Horace from the incidents 
that we have related. Let us go with him in one 
of his journeys from the Sabine farm to Rome. 

Rome is in her pride now, and her streets are 
filled with arches of triumph. Her patricians are 
served with hundreds and even thousands of slaves. 
Her homes are palaces. 

On the Esquiline Hill a white palace seems to 
touch the sky. It is the house of Maecenas. It 
stood where the church of 
Santa Maria Maggiore now 



stands. It is surrounded 
with gardens, fountains, 
and statues. Here Augus¬ 
tus himself was once car¬ 
ried when sick; and from 
the belvedere tower Hero 
is said to have watched 
the burning of Rome. The 
white porticos are rich 
with ornaments, and the 
rooms shine with ivory 
and gold. The tables run 


Maecenas. 


wine, and wits are invited 

to enliven every poetic banquet. Such luxury 
would not befit the old Rome of grand character. 
Horace, who loved the country and the people, 
must have shrunk away from many things that he 
saw. 

Let us sit down in the circle of wits amid the 
blazing halls. Let us suppose that Maecenas asks 
Horace the secret of his literary success, and that 
Horace replies in words which we quote from his 
works: — 

“He who unites what is useful with what is 


124 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XIV. 


agreeable wins every vote. His book crosses the 
sea: it will enrich the Sosii [Roman booksellers] 
and win for the writer imperishable fame.” 

So, according to Horace, it is successful literary 
art to make that which is useful in life agreeable 
to the reader. He was right. 

Horace died 8 b.c. He was buried on the Esqui- 
line Hill, close to the tomb of Maecenas. He once 
said: — 

u Non omnis moriar” (I shall not all die). With 
this thought we leave the poet of the fields. 



Temple of Saturn. 










Chap. XV. IN THE GARDENS OF CICERO . 125 


CHAPTER XV. 


In the Gardens of Cicero. 



ICERO, if not a Stoic, belonged to that school 


V_y of thought. The great orator of Rome gave 
his influence to virtue, honor, and the ivelfare of 
men. He was born in an old country house among 
the Volscian hills, 106 b.c. His family were con¬ 
servative, as people who favored the old order of 
things were called. His grandfather opposed the 
Greek education which had entered Rome. ' “ The 
more Greek a man knows, ” said the stern old man, 
“the greater rascal he becomes.” He was a man 
who gave himself to his studies and his farm. 

But Cicero’s father, like Horace’s, wished his son 
to have the best education, both Roman and Greek. 
So he took Cicero to Rome, where he attended Greek 
lectures, and became a Greek student. He studied 
for the bar, and learned all the school arts of elo¬ 
quence. A lawyer in those days had first to be a 
soldier, and Cicero entered the army under the 
command of the father of Pompey the Great. He 
went to Athens to complete his education; to study 
Greek history, poetry, and philosophy, a course 
which might have caused his old grandfather’s 
ashes to be restless on the old Volscian farm. 

Athens to young Cicero was holy ground. 

He travelled over Asia Minor, returned to Rome 
with every polite accomplishment, married, and 
chose the restrained and scholarly habits of the 


126 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XV. 



Stoics as his mode of life. His grandfather’s 
blood made him reserved and prudent amid all the 
flatteries and gayeties of Koine. 

He was elected quaestor and praetor, and became 
a leading senator. He gained the highest fame as 

an orator, and 
was the favorite 
of the Forum, 
or the place of 
public speaking. 

There was a 
young man in 
Eome of an an¬ 
cient and proud 
family, but who 
had become 
poor, named 
Catiline. He 
became a par¬ 
tisan of Sulla. 
He had a strong 
body, a low 
mind, a bad 
character, and 
was restless and 
ambitious. He 
was elected prae¬ 
tor, but was re¬ 
fused the con¬ 
sulship, which turned his heart against Kome. 
He gathered around him a number of idle and dis¬ 
solute Koman nobles, and planned a conspiracy to 
arm the slaves and to murder Cicero, and seize 
the supreme power. Cicero was secretly informed 
of the conspiracy, and these events led to those 




Chap. XV. IN THE GARDENS OF CICERO. 


127 


noble orations against Catiline, which you will one 
clay study. 

You may like now to see one of Cicero’s orations, 
which were the greatest ever delivered in Rome. 
There is one against Verres which is a kind of 
story; it pictures the Roman government in the 
orator’s time. Verres was what is called a state 
criminal, or one who had misused the power given 
him by public office. He had been dishonest, 
unjust, and cruel. A part of the oration against 
Verres is as follows: — 

“ Romans: How shall I speak of Publius G-avius, 
a citizen of Consa? With what powers of voice, 
with what force of language, with what sufficient 
indignation of soul, can I tell the tale? Indigna¬ 
tion, at least, will not fail me: the more must I 
strive that in this my pleading the other requisites 
may be made to meet the gravity of the subject, 
the intensity of my feeling. For the accusation is 
such that, when it was first laid before me, I did 
not think to make use of it; though I knew it to be 
perfectly true, I did not think it would be credible. 
— How shall I now proceed? — when I have already 
been speaking for so many hours on one subject — 
his atrocious cruelty; when I have exhausted upon 
other points well-nigh all the powers of language 
such as alone is suited to that man’s crimes; — when 
I have taken no precaution to secure your attention 
by any variety in my charges against him, — in 
what fashion can I now speak on a charge of this 
importance ? I think there is one way — one course, 
and only one, left for me to take. I will place the 
facts before you, and they have in themselves such 
weight that no eloquence — I will not say of mine, 
for I have none; but of any man’s — is needed to 
excite your feelings. 


128 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XV. 


“This Gavius of Consa, of whom I speak, had 
been among the crowds of Roman citizens who had 
been thrown into prison under that man. Somehow 
he had made his escape out of the Quarries, and 
had got to Messana; and when he saw Italy and the 
towers of Rhegium now so close to him, and out of 
the horror and shadow of death felt himself breathe 
with a new life as he scented once more the fresh 
air of liberty and the laws, he began to talk at 
Messana, and to complain that he, a Roman citizen, 
had been put in irons — that he was going straight 
to Rome — that he would be ready there for Verres 
on his arrival. 

“ The wretched man little knew that he might as 
well have talked in this fashion in the governor’s 
palace before his very face, as at Messana. For, 
as I told you before, this city he had selected for 
himself as the accomplice in his crimes, the receiver 
of his stolen goods, the confidant of all his wicked¬ 
ness. So Gavius is brought at once before the city 
magistrates; and, as it so chanced, on that very 
day Verres himself came to Messana. The case is 
reported to him: that there is a certain Roman 
citizen who complained of having been put into the 
Quarries at Syracuse; that as he was just going on 
board ship, and was uttering threats — really too 
atrocious — against Verres, they had detained him, 
and kept him in custody, that the governor himself 
might decide about him as should seem to him good. 
Verres thanks the gentlemen, and extols their good¬ 
will and zeal for his interests. He himself, burn¬ 
ing with rage and malice, comes down to the court. 
His eyes flashed fire; cruelty was written on every 
line of his face. All present watched anxiously to 
see to what lengths he meant to go, or what steps 


Chap. XY. IN THE GARDENS OF CICERO. 


129 


he would take; when suddenly he ordered the 
prisoner to be dragged forth, and to be stripped 
and bound in the open Forum, and the rods to be 
got ready at once. The unhappy man cried out 
that he was a Roman citizen; that he had the 
municipal franchise of Consa; that he had served 
in a campaign with Lucius Pretius, a distinguished 
Roman knight, now engaged in business at Panor- 
mus, from whom Yerres might ascertain the truth 
of his statement. Then that man replies that he 
has discovered that he, Gavius, has been sent into 
Sicily as a spy by the ringleaders of the runaway 
slaves; of which charge there was neither witness 
nor trace of any kind, or even suspicion in any 
man’s mind. Then he ordered the man to be 
scourged severely all over his body. Yes — a Roman 
citizen was cut to pieces with rods in the open 
Forum at Messana, gentlemen; and as the punish¬ 
ment went on, no word, no groan, of the wretched 
man, in all his anguish, was heard amid the sound 
of the lashes, but this cry, — ‘ I am a Roman citi¬ 
zen ! ’ By such protest of citizenship he thought 
he could at least save himself from anything like 
blows — could escape the indignity of personal tor¬ 
ture. But not only did he fail in thus deprecating 
the insult of the lash, but when he redoubled his 
entreaties and his appeal to the name of Rome, 
a cross — yes, I say, a cross — was ordered for 
that most unfortunate and ill-fated man, who had 
never yet beheld such an abuse of a governor’s 
power. 

“0 name of liberty, sweet to our ears! 0 rights 
of citizenship, in which we glory! 0 laws of Por¬ 
cius and Sempronius! 0 privilege of the tribune, 

long and sorely regretted, and at last restored to the 


130 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XV. 


people of Rome! Has it all come to this, that a 
Roman citizen in a province of the Roman people 

— in a federal town is to be bound and beaten with 
rods in the Forum by a man who only holds those 
rods and axes — those awful emblems — by grace of 
that same people of Rome? What shall I say of the 
fact that fire, and red-hot plates, and other tortures 
were applied? . Even if his agonized entreaties and 
pitiable cries did not check you, were you not moved 
by the tears and groans which burst from the Roman 
citizens who were present at the scene? Did you 
dare to drag to the cross any man who claimed to 
be a citizen of Rome? — I did not intend, gentle¬ 
men, in my former pleading, to press this case so 
strongly — I did not indeed; for you saw yourselves 
how the public feeling was already embittered 
against the defendant by indignation, and hate, and 
dread of a common peril. 

“You did not know who the man was; you sus¬ 
pect him of being a spy. I do not ask the grounds 
of your suspicion. I impeach you on your own evi¬ 
dence. He said he was a Roman citizen. Had 
you yourself, Yerres, been seized and led out to 
execution, in Persia, say, or in the farthest Indies, 
what other cry or protest could you raise but that 
you were a Roman citizen? And if you, a stranger 
there among strangers, in the hands of barbarians, 
amongst men who dwell in the farthest and remotest 
regions of the earth, would have found protection 
in the name of your city, known and renowned 
in every nation under heaven, could the victim 
whom you were dragging to the cross, be he who 
he might, — and you did not know who he was, 

— when he declared he was a citizen of Rome, 
could he obtain from you, a Roman magistrate, 


Chap. XV. IN THE GARDENS OF CICERO. 


131 


by the mere mention and claim of citizenship, not 
only no reprieve, but not even a brief respite from 
death? 

“Men of neither rank nor wealth, of humble 
birth and station^ sail the seas; they touch at some 
spot they never saw before, where they are neither 
personally known to those whom they visit, nor can 
always find any to vouch for their nationality. But 
in this single fact of their citizenship they feel they 
shall be safe, not only with our own governors, who 
are held in check by the terror of the laws and of 
public opinion — not only among those who share 
that citizenship of Borne, and who are united with 
them by community of language, of laws, and of 
many things besides — but go where they may, this, 
they think, will be their safeguard. Take away this 
confidence, destroy this safeguard for our Koman 
citizens, — once establish the principle that there is 
no protection in the words, ‘I am a citizen of Borne, ’ 
— that praetor or other magistrate may with impu¬ 
nity sentence to what punishment he will a man 
who says he is a Boman citizen, merely because 
somebody does not know it for a fact; and at once, 
by admitting such a defence, you are shutting up 
against our Boman citizens all our provinces, all 
foreign states, despotic or independent — all the 
whole world, in short, which has ever lain open to 
our national enterprise beyond all. 

“But why talk of Gavius? as though it were 
Gavius on whom you were wreaking a private ven¬ 
geance, instead of rather waging war against the 
very name and rights of Boman citizenship. You 
showed yourself an enemy, I say, not to the indi¬ 
vidual man, but to the common cause of liberty. 
Bor what meant it that, when the authorities of 


132 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XV. 


Messana, according to their usual custom, would 
have erected the cross behind their city on the 
Pompeian road, you ordered it to be set up on the 
side that looked toward the Strait? Nay, and 
added this — which you cannot deny, which you 
said openly in the hearing of all — that you chose 
that spot for this reason, that as he had called him¬ 
self a Roman citizen, he might be able, from his 
cross of punishment, to see in the distance his 
country and his home! And so, gentlemen, that 
cross was the only one, since Messana was a city, 
that was ever erected on that spot. A point which 
commanded a view of Italy was chosen by the 
defendant for the express reason that the dying 
sufferer, in his last agony and torment, might see 
how the rights of the slave and the freeman were 
separated by that narrow streak of sea; that Italy 
might look upon a son of hers suffering the capital 
penalty reserved for slaves alone. 

“ It is a crime to put a citizen of Rome in bonds; 
it is an atrocity to scourge him; to put him to 
death is well-nigh parricide; what shall I say it is 
to crucify him? — Language has no word by which 
I may designate such an enormity. Yet with all 
this yon man was not content. ‘Let him look,’ 
said he, ‘towards his country; let him die in full 
sight of freedom and the laws. ’ It was not Gavius; 
it was not a single victim, unknown to fame, a 
mere individual Roman citizen; it was the common 
cause of liberty, the common rights of citizenship, 
which you there outraged and put to a shameful 
death.” 

This grand oration, more than any other, pictures 
the patriotic character of Cicero, and the glory and 
sacredness of the Roman name. It is held to be a 


Chap. XY. IN THE GARDENS OF CICERO. 


133 


model of oratory for all time. It gives us a view of 
that “ elder day, ” when — 

“ To be a Roman was greater than a king.” 

Only the opening of the oration was really deliv¬ 
ered, as Yerres fled from Rome at the opening of 
the case. 

Let us go with Cicero from crowded Rome, a 
city that now encompasses sixteen miles to his 
country villa, where he studied and wrote and 
taught. It is twelve miles from Rome, on the 
Alban hills, near Tusculum. Here was the home 
of the Catos; here Maecenas had a villa; here the 
best men of Rome often retired. 

It is summer. The gardens are bursting into 
bloom; the walls are vined; the color of wine is in 
the roses, and laurels wreathe the white porticos. 
The sun is going down in the clear sky, and the 
heavens above are changing to crimson and gold. 

In the cool gardens are seats, and here Cicero 
talks with his friends. You must some day read 
his essay on Friendship , for no one ever wrote 
so well on the delights of friendly discourse. 

The garden of Cicero is the scene of his famous 
discourses on the soul, called Tusculan Disputa¬ 
tions . Here he defended the teachings of the 
Stoics against the philosophy of the Epicureans, a 
sect who claimed that the purpose of life was pleas¬ 
ure, as the end of nature was beauty. 

Let us listen to Cicero to-night, as he talks to 
his friends in the sundown, amid the cool breezes 
and the long shadows of the trees. 

The subject is the Immortal Life of the Soul. 
Cicero believed that “ our souls have sight of that 


134 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XV. 


immortal sea which brought us hither/’ that great 
deeds are the noblest expressions of the soul, and 
live forever. 

“ Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife, 

And to the epicure proclaim, 

One crowded hour of glorious life 
Is worth an age without a name.” 

Hear him: “ One single day well spent were bet¬ 
ter to be chosen than an immortality of sin. 

“ Follow after justice and duty: such a life is the 
path to heaven, and into yonder high assembly of 
immortal souls who once dwelt on earth.” 

An Epicurean speaks of the contests among the 
gladiators, as the prize-fighters were called in the 
arena of Rome. 

Cicero answers: — 

“To ransom captives and to help the poor is 
nobler than to provide gladiators to amuse the mob.” 

Another asks for a proof that the soul lives after 
death. Cicero answers: — 

“Men may say that they cannot see what the 
soul can be, distinct from the body. But they can 
no more comprehend what it is in the body. To 
me, when I consider the nature of the soul, I have 
more difficulty of conceiving what it is now than 
what it may be in the atmosphere of heaven, its 
natural abode.” 

He now delivers a discourse on Zeno, the Greek 
Stoic, and his views of life, and the purpose and 
destiny of the soul. The stars come out, the lights 
twinkle in the marble villas on the hills, and late 
in the cool of the night Cicero and his friends go 
to their chambers to rest. 





HOUSE OF CICERO AT TUSCULUM. 










































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Chap. XVI. 


CJZSAR AUGUSTUS. 


135 


CHAPTER XYI. 

Caesar Augustus. — The Augustan Age of the Poets. — A School 
in the Augustan Age. 

T HE reign of Julius Caesar was followed by a 
second triumvirate, or the consulate of Anto- 
nius, Lepidus, and Octavius. The army and peo¬ 
ple punished the conspirators against Caesar, nearly 
all of whom met a violent death. Brutus fell at 
the battle of Philippi by his own hand. Marc 
Antony (Antonius), after espousing the cause of 
the dead Caesar, was lured to his ruin by Cleopatra, 
the beautiful queen of Egypt; and the supreme 
power at last fell to Caesar Octavius, who became 
prince of the Senate, praetor, tribune, and impera- 
tor, and Pontifex Maximus. He took the name of 
Augustus, and is known in history as the first 
emperor; and his reign is called the Augustan age. 

The period of Augustus, from b.c. 33 to a.d. 14, 
was famous for literature and art, and was favored 
by men of genius beyond any era of the Roman 
world. It was the golden age of the poets. We 
have already told you of Virgil and Horace, who, 
after Ennius, were among the masters of poetic art. 
These were followed by Juvenal and Lucan, and 
these, after centuries of literary inactivity, were 
followed by the great Italian poets, Dante, Petrarch, 
and Tasso. 

Julius Caesar had been an historian. Augustus 
was a literary man, and his principal adviser, 


136 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XVI. 


Maecenas, was a lover of poetry and art. It was 
the ambition of the Emperor Augustus, as we have 
told you, to glorify Home in history, poetry, and 
art; and he admitted to his friendship men of gen¬ 
ius and literary tastes, however humble may have 
been their birth. Some of these writers pictured 
Roman history after their own imagination rather 
than from facts, and enlarged and colored the old 
traditions and legends that offered glory to the 
Roman race. The historians were almost as 
picturesque and fanciful as the poets. They 


wrote vividly, and their 
pages live and glow; and the 
critic sees how they were 
written for Augustus rather 
than for historic truth. But 
time tells the truth about 
all things, and even at this 
late day discoveries of the 
monuments of old Rome 
have been found to correct 
the pictured pages of the 
literary favorites of the Au¬ 
gustan court. 



Augustus. 


The historian Livy, whose pages are such delight¬ 
ful reading, mingles the fancied acts of gods with 
the deeds of men. Sallust put grand speeches into 
the mouths of heroes, such as those heroes never 
could have uttered; and yet these writings, if not 
true to the facts, were true to the spirit of the times, 
and the world will always accept them as pic¬ 
tures, and correct them by the judgments of clear¬ 
sighted and conscientious men. 

Augustus himself wrote poetry, and began a 
tragedy on the subject of Ajax, which he did not 






















































































































































































Chap. XVI. 


CAESAR AUGUSTUS. 


137 


complete. He interested himself in the views of 
Stoics, and wrote an Exhortation to Philosophy. 
Livy, the greatest and most picturesque of the 
historians of the world, composed a history of 
Rome, which originally consisted of one hundred 
and forty books. Livy saw what was good in men, 
as the historian Suetonius afterward saw what was 
bad. Cornelius Nepos and Sallust received their 
inspiration from the Augustan court of letters and 
art. 

Suetonius followed these historians of a later 
date and wrote the History of the Twelve Csesars, 
and of the Rhetoricians and Poets. 

The poets and historians of the Augustan age 
neglected no opportunity to praise Augustus. They 
had good reason to respect and admire their patron, 
but they sometimes descended to flattery. Even the 
genius of Virgil was not free from the flatterer’s art. 

An editor of Suetonius relates the following anec¬ 
dote, which gives a view of those dazzling days, 
when the poets hailed the emperor as a god. 

“The poet Virgil, having written a distich, in 
which he compared Augustus to Jupiter, placed 
it in the night-time over the gate of the emperor’s 
palace. It was in these words: — 

“ ‘ Nocte pluit tota, redeunt spectacula mane : 

Divisum imperium cum Jove Csesar habet.’ 

“ All night it rained, with morn the sports appear, 

Csesar and Jove between them rule the year. 

“By order of Augustus, an inquiry was made 
after the author; and, Virgil not declaring himself, 
the verses were claimed by Bathyllus, a contemptible 
poet, but who was liberally rewarded on the occa- 


138 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XVI. 


sion. Virgil, provoked at the falsehood of the 
impostor, again wrote the verses on some conspic¬ 
uous part of the palace, and under them the fol¬ 
lowing line: — 

“ ‘ Hos ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honores ; ’ 

“ I wrote the verse, another filched the praise ; 

with the beginning of another line in these words: 

Sic vos, non vobis,’ 

“Not for yourselves, you — 

repeated four times. Augustus expressing a desire 
that the lines should be finished, and Bathyllus 
proving unequal to the task, Virgil at last filled up 
the blanks in this manner: — 

“ ‘ Sic vos, non vobis, nidificatis, aves ; 

Sic vos, non vobis, vellera fertis, oves; 

Sic vos, non vobis, mellificatis, apes ; 

Sic vos, non vobis, fertis aratra, boves. ’ 

“Not for yourselves, ye birds, your nests ye build ; 

Not for yourselves, ye sheep, your fleece ye yield ; 

Not for yourselves, ye bees, your cells ye fill; 

Not for yourselves, ye beeves, ye plough and till. 

The expedient immediately evinced him to be the 
author of the distich, and Bathyllus became the 
theme of public ridicule. 

“ When at any time Virgil came to Borne, if the 
people, as was commonly the case, crowded to gaze 
upon him, or pointed at him with the finger in 
admiration, he blushed, and stole away from them; 
frequently taking refuge in some shop. When he 
went to the theatre, the audience universally rose 


Chap. XVI. 


CASSAR AUGUSTUS. 


139 


up at his entrance, as they did to Augustus, and 
received him with the loudest plaudits; a compli¬ 
ment which, however highly honorable, he would 
gladly have declined. When such was the just 
respect which they paid to the author of the Bucolics 
and Georgies , how would they have expressed 
their esteem, had they beheld him in the effulgence 
of epic renown! In the beautiful episode of the 
Elysian fields, in the ^Bneid, where he dexterously 
introduced a glorious display of their country, he 
had touched the most elastic springs of Boman 
enthusiasm. The passion would have rebounded 
upon himself, and they would, in the heat of admi¬ 
ration, have idolized him.” 

What were the schools of Borne in the time of 
Augustus and Msecenas? 

Let us go to the home of a well-born Boman 
matron in the early hour of the day. The house is 
marble, and entered by a portico. In front is a 
cool fountain, and at one end a terraced garden. 
In the family department is a room whose cool 
doors open into the garden, and here we shall find 
the Boman lady surrounded by her children. 

Her husband is at the Senate, or, it may be, 
abroad with the army. Her older sons are at 
Athens or in Borne, studying rhetoric, art, or 
science. 

The lady, while engaged in instructing her fam¬ 
ily, has an air of elegance and dignity. She wears 
a dress whose beauty lies in the graceful folds. 
The sleeves do not reach to the elbow, but the robe 
covers her feet. Her hair is gathered into artistic 
rolls, which are held by a gold band. She has no 
other ornaments than gold pins and rings. 

The color of her dress or ,robe is white, with a 


140 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XVI. 


border of purple. Her children wear tunics of 
white woollen. The little school is in all respects 
like a picture. 

Let us enter silently, and not break in rudely 
upon the scene. A virtuous home is a sacred place. 
At the feet of the lady, a boy of some six years is 
seemingly playing with some blocks, and his mother 
is watching him. Now he takes up one block, and 
now another. These blocks contain the letters of 
the alphabet. He is learning to read and to spell. 

An older boy is engaged with a frame of beads 
strung on wires. He is learning to count. An older 
boy sits by the door with a manuscript before him. 
He is reading a Roman poet; it may be Ennius. 

The daughters are also engaged in the study of 
history. 

The sun rises high. The tops of the trees in the 
cool garden glow. A heavy step is heard on the 
portico, and there enters a man with a high fore¬ 
head, a grave look, and a flowing beard. The lady 
rises and greets him, and leaves her family in his 
care. He is the Greek teacher, a Stoic perhaps 
from Athens. 

He questions the older boy on geography, and bids 
him to ask questions. The boy has a willing spirit, 
and turns to the grave pedagogue, and says: — 

“ What lies under the earth ? ” 

The pedagogue may answer: — 

“The under-world.” 

“ But what is there under that? ” 

The old geographers had a hard time in those 
days, as you may see. But as Rome grows towards 
the west, her sails will venture out on the sea, and 
Genoese Columbus will one day answer the question 
so often asked by Roman lads. 



A ROMAN FAMILY 




























































Chap. XVII. THE BIRTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 141 


CHAPTER XVII. 

The Birth of Christianity. — The Year of Our Lord. 

T HE world is silent now — the nations are at 
peace. The Temple of Janus that was opened 
in war and closed in peace stands with folded doors. 

“No war nor battle sound 
Was heard the world around.” 

Rome rules the European world, and Augustus 
has but to speak, and the nations will hear and 
obey, from the Mediterranean to the Baltic. 

In this period of concord an event happened 
which transcends the glory of Rome, the thoughts 
of the philosophers, or the music of the poets. 
There was born One who was to preach the brother¬ 
hood of all men, the rebirth of the soul, the con¬ 
sciousness of God, and immortal life, and who was 
to establish an invisible kingdom in the spirits of 
men that should rule all nations and forever endure. 

The record of this event as recorded by St. Luke 
is one of the most beautiful and transcendent pages 
of all history. You have read it often, or heard it 
read, but we know you will like to read it again as 
a part of Roman history. 

Augustus wished to make a census or to enroll 
(“tax”) all the people of the Roman Empire, that 
he might better divide the vast domain into prov¬ 
inces. He had but to speak and it was done. The 
Gospel of St. Luke thus records the event of events 


142 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XVII. 


which followed the decree of Augustus, and the 
enrolment in Galilee and Judea: — 

“ 1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out 
a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be 
taxed (enrolled). 

2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was 
governor of Syria.) 

3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city 
of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is 
called Bethlehem ; (because he was of the house and lineage 
of David;) 

5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great 
with child. 

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days 
were accomplished that she should be delivered. 

7 And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped 
him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because 
there was no room for them in the inn. 

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding 
in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and 
the glory of the Lord shone round about them : and they 
were sore afraid. 

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, 
I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all 
people. 

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a 
Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 

12 And this shall he a sign unto you; Ye shall find the 
babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of 
the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good 
will toward men.” 

The Emperor Augustus, it is said, found “ Rome 
brick and left it marble.” He found it almost 
without a literature, and left it heroic with poetry, 


Chap. XVII. THE BIRTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 143 


eloquence, and song; but it is probable that he 
never so much as heard of this event in the far 
Syrian province, for he died a.d. 14. Yet this 
Birth in the Manger was to topple over all the 
temples of Borne; and the events of Borne in the 
future were to be dated from it. Well might pro¬ 
phetic Mary sing: — 

“ He hath put down the mighty from their seats, 

And exalted them of low degree.” 

The spirit of the teachings of the Gospel has 
entered into the hearts of the meek and lowly, but 
in Borne the birth of Christ is celebrated in the 
churches where stood the old temples with splendid 
rituals, and in no church in the world with greater 
magnificence than that which stands on the Capi- 
toline Hill, where the august emperor once stood, 
seeking to know the wisdom that is divine. 

Let us turn away from these far events of the 
past. The glory of Augustus is faded and gone, 
and the birth of the Christ Child gives them the 
past date of 1892 years. 

It is Christmas morning in modern Borne. We 
will go to the Church of the Ara Coeli (pronounced 
Cheli). We will go early, for the crowds will be 
great. What poetic legends, beyond the grand fact 
of the nativity of the great Teacher of righteous¬ 
ness, draw the feet of multitudes to this place? 

The Ara Cceli means the Altar of Heaven. It is 
said that the Emperor Augustus caused an altar to 
be erected here in honor of the prophecy of the 
Cumean Sibyl that a child should be born who 
should lead the world to brotherhood and to the 
truth. This legend may be true. There is another 


144 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XVII. 


legend, more poetic, but quite improbable, that 
when the Senate would confer divine honors upon 
Augustus, he was led by a prophetess to look upward 
from this hill, and that he saw a vision of a virgin 
with a child in her arms, and was told that the 
world would render divine honors to the infant of 
the vision. In this church is kept a figure of the 
infant Christ, called the Bambino, made of olive 
wood and covered with jewels, which is believed 
to have miraculous power. The legendary history 
of this figure is well known among the people of 
Borne. Whatever may be said of these legends, 
the display of the Bambino to-day will be a great 
event in Borne, and will recall to the public mind 
the memorable event of Bethlehem. 

The church, seems to stand in the heavens. We 
approach it by a flight of one hundred and twenty- 
four steps of Grecian marble. It is said that these 
beautiful steps once formed the approach to the 
Temple of Venus. It is very early, and we will go 
up alone. 

Above the steps rises the front of the church, 
like a mountain of marble. But where are we? 
On the Capitoline Hill. Before us is the Palatine, 
where Bomulus is said to have stood. Beneath are 
the ruins of Cyclopean walls, the place of the 
Forum, and the streets over which triumphal pro¬ 
cessions marched, and the very arches under which 
conquerors and captives passed. Beyond is the 
Campagna, or Fields, a place of ruins, tombs, 
graves, and deadly airs. The Tiber is yonder, once 
the glory of the city, but now a sluggish stream 
with hardly a sail or an oar. 

The Campagna! What millions of proud and 
gay generations slumber unknown under the vast 



TEMPLE OF JUPITER CAPITOLINUS. 






















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Chap. XVII. THE BIRTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 145 

moorland of moss and grass. The dove-colored 
oxen roam free over the sunken villas of heroes and 
knights, and the mould of Etruscan towns. The 
alabaster domes and flowery terraces are gone — 
the 

“ . . . serene pavilions bright 
In avenues disposed.” 

Here stood the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, 
which once grandly uplifted its quivering gold to 
the sun, as the Church of the Altar of Heaven lifts 
its white front now. Here Titus brought the spoils 
of Jerusalem. 

The hundred and twenty-four steps of the white 
church begin to throng. The space below is filled 
with people. In front of 
the church appears an 
august assembly of priests 
and church officials in 
glittering vestments. Near 
them are monks in som¬ 
bre robes. Gigantic torches 
smoke and blaze, and the 
celebrant approaches bear¬ 
ing the figure of the Holy 
Child. The whole company Temple of Capitoline Jupiter. 

is now enveloped in a cloud of incense. The mili¬ 
tary music thunders, and the priest uplifts the 
image. The people fall upon their knees, and all 
is devotion and murmur of prayers, from the streets 
of the Forum to the sunbright arch of the purple 
sky. 

The procession of priests, monks, and officials 
enters the church. There is a great outburst of 
music inside, and clouds of incense, and people 




146 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XVII. 


wrapped in devotion everywhere — the Capitoline 
Hill is chanting and praying, and Koine is bowed 
at the vision of the birth of the Babe of Bethlehem. 

One could wish that the poetic legends of the 
vision of the Emperor Augustus were true in fact; 
for the allegory pictures the events of the centu¬ 
ries. Augustus is dust, but the spirit of the teach¬ 
ings of the Christ of Galilee rules the thrones, 
the senates, and the hearts of the enlightened 
world! 

Not in many places, indeed, is Christmas cele¬ 
brated by scenes like those in the Church of Ara 
Coeli, nor could Christian people wish it to be; but 
everywhere in all enlightened lands, Catholic and 
Protestant, bells are ringing, and choirs are sing¬ 
ing, the poor are made happy with gifts, and all 
the children are glad. 

But we are not visiting Kome in the year of 
Augustus, or any of the Caesars, but in the year of 
our Lord, 1892. 

We still have the Julian Year, or the Julian 
Calendar. The Komans, originally, had a year of 
ten months off, but in the far days of their kings 
they adopted a lunar year of twelve months of three 
hundred and fifty-five days. To adjust the remain¬ 
ing days and hours they had an extra month, called 
an intercalary month, which fell every three years. 
In the year 46 b.c. Julius Caesar issued a calendar 
in which the year ordinarily has three hundred and 
sixty-five days, but every fourth year three hundred 
and sixty-six days. Caesar gave the months the 
number of days which they still retain. 

The Komans were the first nation to adopt the 
first day of January as the first day of the year. 
So we have the Koman New Year as in the days of 


Chap. XVII. THE BIRTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 147 


Augustus. The fraction of a day at last led to a 
discrepancy of ten days, and in 1582, Pope Gregory 
XIII. corrected the Roman calendar, and declared 
the 5th of October to be the 15th. This change of 
date was called New Style, and was adopted by 
Catholic countries at once, and by English countries 
about a century and a half ago, or in 1752. In 
Russia and Greece the Old Style is yet followed, 
and the 31st of December at Moscow would be the 
12th of January at London. 

For centuries it was more common to date by the 
reign of the king, than from the Year of Our Lord. 
This custom prevailed in. England during the Feudal 
times. But as Christianity grew in power, and 
made the progressive nations familiar, the Year of 
the World (Anno Mundi ) and the Year of Our Lord 
(Anno Domini ) became the dates from which the 
leading nations reckon the historical events of time. 



Rome Mistress of the World. 


148 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. Chap. XVIII. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


(THE POST-AUGUSTAN AGE.) 


Rome in her Glory. 


EATHEN Rome is in her glory now. The 



~1—L period of her worldly splendor and inward 
shame has begun. “ What is to become of Rome,” 
asked the thoughtful Cato, “ when she shall no 
longer have any state to fear ? ” 

She has no state to fear. The world is hers. 
She lives in palaces of marble, and banquets from 
plates of silver and cups of gold. 

But to a people who have not a moral purpose, 
and who are not governed by their moral sense, 
prosperity is ruin. Bad men die by the passions 
that inspire them, for evil and selfish desires are 
consuming fires. In the midst of all her glory the 
winds of desolation are beginning to sweep over 
the Campagna, but amid the revels of the emperors 
she hears them not. 

“ Fear ye the festal hour, 

Aye, tremble when the cup of joy o’erflows.” 

We have given you specimens of the “ pictured 
pages” of Livy, the most illustrious of the Roman 
historians, who had a poetic heart and a kindly 
eye, and whom the world will ever love for his 
power to call up again the scenes of the past, and 
for his bright hopes and amiable charity. He was 



THE APPIAN WAY. 












# 







































































































































Chap. XVIII. ROME IN HER GLORY. 


149 


followed by another historian of wonderful genius 
and art. You may study his works when you are 
older. His name is Tacitus. We will follow his 
narrative for the present, and afterwards a pen 
which we are sorry to say is not so noble, Suetonius, 
who wrote the lives of the Twelve Csesars, from 
Julius Csesar to Domitian. 

But before we follow the vivid narrative of 
Tacitus, there i§ more about Rome and the 
manners and customs of the Roman people that 
you should know. 

Let us again visit the city which Augustus is 
said to have " found brick, and left marble.” The 
old poets are gone. Christianity, which is to 
possess the world, is born in Judea, and Augustus 
has left to his family the richest empire on which 
the sun ever shone. 

We will approach the city by the Appian Way, 
as did the Apostle Paul, when the Christians came 
out to meet him at Appii Forum. Around us 
stretches a vast plain, the Campagna, lined on 
the public ways with tombs, and in full view of 
gardens where houses are shaded by bowers of 
green. 

The road is one of the most wonderful in the 
world. A history of the old Roman roads, like 
the history of bridges, would be the life of the 
Empire. We must speak of these roads, of which 
the Appian Way is one of the most famous of all. 

All of the cities of the Roman Empire were 
connected by great roads, and by posts. The posts 
of these roads are interesting. “ Houses were 
everywhere erected at a distance of only five or 
six miles; each of them was constantly provided 
with forty horses, and by the help of these relays 


150 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XVIII. 


it was easy to travel a hundred miles a day along 
the Roman roads” (Gibbon). 

One of these Roman roads was four thousand 
miles long. They were in many places paved with 
large stones or gravel, were bridged with solid 
structures, and terraced in low lands. They were 
so solidly constructed as to last nearly two thou¬ 
sand years. 

Everywhere one meets with slaves. There are 
Patrician families who are served by thousands of 
slaves. There was one illustrious family who is 
reputed to own ten thousand slaves, and there 
arose a family who in the days of the conquests 
controlled twenty thousand slaves. 

What, you may ask, was the difference between 
the clients and slaves ? We will tell you. 

In early times the families of free and noble 
order were Patricians, and to them alone belonged 
the government of the state. The rest of the 
people were subject to the Patricians, under the 
king, and “ each man with his household was 
attached under the appellation of Client, to the 
head of some Patrician family, whom he was 
bound to serve, and to whom he looked for pro¬ 
tection and help” (Anthon). After the Sabine 
war the people were divided into Curiae, or tribal 
communities, and an assembly of the representatives 
of the Curiae was called the Comitia Curiata. The 
Roman Senate was a select council, and at first 
consisted of one hundred men of the Patrician 
order. So originally the population of Rome con¬ 
sisted of the Patricians and their Clients. 

The Plebs, or Plebeians, were people for the most 
part of a different origin and growth from the 
Clients. They began in a new citizenship. “ The 


Chap. XVIII. ROME IN HER GLORY. 


151 


Plebeians as a separate body grew up by the side of 
the original Patrician citizens, and were never in¬ 
corporated in their peculiar divisions ” (Anthon). 
They were largely people who came to Pome as 
immigrants or as the captives of war or followers 
of conquests. They were allowed to have their 
own officers. 

Pome was full of slaves. Even the humbler 
Poman families usually had a number of slaves. 

Many of the slaves were captives in war origi¬ 
nally, whose families came to form a distinct class 
of the people. The Poman population in the 
Empire consisted of the Patricians, the Plebeians, 
the Clients, and the slaves. 

How did these numerous slaves serve a noble 
Poman family ? There were those who were door¬ 
keepers, roomkeepers, valets, and maids. There 
were those who had charge of the family stores, 
and went to the market, and those who cared for 
the children. 

There were armies of slaves who engaged in the 
great public works. 

The slaves were allowed great privileges. The 
higher order of slaves were educated. The physi¬ 
cians were educated slaves, and so were the early 
instructors of the children. Some of the slaves 
studied Greek. 

The master had full power over the slave whom 
he regarded as his property. He could punish him 
at will, and could take his life. 

There were revolts of the slaves. One of the 
most notable of these took place under Spartacus, 
71 b.c. This man was a Thracian captive who had 
been trained as a gladiator. He made the crater 
of the volcano of Vesuvius his place of resort. He 


152 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XVIII. 


gathered an army of sixty thousand men, and was 
the terror of Rome. You may have seen in read¬ 
ing books an imaginary, but very powerful speech 
called Spartacus to the Gladiators. 

The slaves of the Empire at one time numbered 
some sixty or seventy millions, in a total population 
of about one hundred and fifty millions. Rome 
was served by the captives of the world. 

The slaves might be made free. The freed 
slaves of Rome as a rule followed the vices of 

their masters un¬ 
der whom they had 
served, and did not 
become a desirable 
part of the pop¬ 
ulation. Slavery 
was one of the 
many causes of the 
decline of Rome. 
Wrong in any form 
is decay. 

The thronging 
road indicates the 
near approach to 
the city. Look up 

to the clear sky. 

Beating a Slave. What white pal- 

aces are those gleaming in the sun ? What temples 
with gilded roofs and domes, as dazzling as a vision ? 
It is the Capitoline Hill. 

The noise of the wheels increases. Along the 
way not only the grand mansions of the living 
grow more imposing, but the palaces of the dead. 
Everywhere are tombs. The Rome of nearly a 
thousand years sleeps under the Campagna, and 



Chap. XVIII. ROME IN HER GLORY. 


153 


there the ashes of the heroes of a thousand years 
will soon be strewn. 

“ Behold Rome ! ” says a picturesque peasant, 
as he turns and looks back on his way from the 
walls and the gates to his simple home. 

The city, now begins, though we are yet far from 
the walls and gates. Rome has outgrown her bounds, 
and lives in the suburbs. Nobles roll by in their 
chariots on their way to their shaded villas. Sol¬ 
diers flash past on glittering steeds ; prisoners, 
oxen, sheep, and goats. Beggars line the ruins 
now — were they there then ? We think that they 
were, for there were few if any great hospitals then 
— and in the Rome of the purple misfortune begged. 

We are now amid the roar of the city; the stone 
streets thunder; all is life. The hills gleam with 
temples and palaces, and over all hangs the sky, 
blue and serene, through which flow the living 
tides of the sun. 

On our way we may perhaps stop and drink from 
the fountain of Numa, for at this time the people 
believe the fable of the nymph Egeria, of which 
we told you, and here is a sacred spot. 

The streets are spanned with arches of triumph. 
They shine in the sun and are covered with trophies 
of victory, heroic inscriptions and statues of marble. 

We have come to the Forum now, and from it 
rises the Capitoline Hill, crowned with the Temple 
of Jupiter, and the halls of state. 

We stand amid the hurrying crowds and gaze 
upward to the glittering domes of Capitoline Jove. 
The sun is going down; people crowd and rush 
along. The temples gleam in the air, and then the 
cool wing of night sweeps over all. The streets 
grow still. The moon rises over the Tiber, and 


154 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. Chap. XVIII. 


Borne sleeps, amid the thousands of dumb statues 
of gods and men. 

It is morning. Let us go to the Palatine. The 
living sunlight is pouring like a flood through the 
cool sky. 

The Palatine was the primitive site of Borne. 
The Seven Hills rise around it, once green with 
fields, now white with palaces. It was here that, 
according to the old fable or tradition, Bomulus 
and Bemus were nursed by the she-wolf, and fed 
by the woodpecker. It was here that Bomulus 
ploughed with a heifer and a bull, and raised his 
wall on the furrow that his ploughshare had traced. 
The fabled city of Bomulus is known as the Bom a 
Quadrata. 

It has been the custom of critics for a century 
past to deny or doubt all, or nearly all, the old 
traditions of Borne, but recent excavations have 
brought to light, at the very points described by 
Tacitus, the ancient wall of the Boma Quadrata, 
of unknown date and origin, but which the legend 
of Bomulus was supposed to follow. 

The shepherd hut of Faustulus was here, and 
here were the grandeurs of the Borne of the Kings 
and the Consuls. But its highest glory came with 
Empire, when palaces seemed to climb into the 
air, and the streets resounded with festivals and 
triumphs. 

We enter the street of senatorial and consular 
palaces. Here is the house of iEmilius Scaurus, 
for which Clodius paid fourteen millions of sesterces, 
or according to Middleton 15,000,000 = $750,000. 
With the estate is usually associated an enormous 
theatre, with tiers of seats supported on columns, 
containing seats for eighty thousand spectators. 


Chap. XYIII. ROME IN HER GLORY. 


155 


It was divided into three stories, and had three 
hundred and sixty marble columns, those of the * 
lower order being thirty-eight feet high. The 
lower story was lined with marble; the second 
story was lined with glass mosaics; the third 
or upper story was of gilded wood. Three thou¬ 
sand bronze statues silently inhabit the edifice. 

In the gardens where the purple violets lift their 
perfumes under the shadows of the rose trees, 
fountains murmur, and art mingles with nature 
every delight that can charm the eye. 

Let us stop and rest on two stone seats before 
the palace of Octavius. A noble palm rises over 
us, and young Augustus made it his favorite tree, 
and tended it that he might enjoy the shadow. 
The Seven Hills are gleaming in the sun through 
the trees. The street throngs with people, gates 
open and close on the cool gardens, and far and 
near in the clear air of the hills, and on the tree- 
shaded streets are the glimmering columns, statues, 
and domes of palaces. All around us are houses 
and palaces, enriched with the spoils of the world. 

And grand as the buildings on the Palatine are 
now, Tiberius is to surpass them in the near fu¬ 
ture. There never was a city like the Rome of the 
Caesars. 

The reigns of the Twelve Caesars lasted for one 
hundred and forty-two years. The names of the 
first Twelve Caesars, or Emperors, as given by 
Suetonius, are as follows : — 

THE TWELVE CJESARS. 

1. Julius Caesar . . . .46 b.c.-44 b.c. 

2. Augustus . . . .29 b.c.-14 a.d. 

3. Tiberius.a.d. 14-37. 


156 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XVIII. 


4. Caligula 
• 5. Claudius 

6. Nero 

7. Galba 

8. Otho 

9. Vitellius 

10. Vespasian 

11. Titus 

12. Domitian 


. a.d. 37-41. 

. a.d. 41-54. 

. a.d. 54-68. 

. a.d. 68 (June)-69 (January). 

. a.d. 69 (January)-69 (April). 
a.d. 69 (January)-69 (December 18). 

. a.d. 70-79. 

. a.d. 79-81. 

. . . . a.d. 81-96. 


Ill order that you may have a clear view of the 
dates and great events of the Roman government, 
we will give you the table of Tacitus as arranged 
in the introduction to his Annals. According to 
this writer: — 

I. The government of the Kings lasted a little 
more than one hundred and fifty years, ending with 
the banishment of the Tarquins. 

II. The Republic was established by Brutus, the 
first Consul, 245 a.u.c. (Anno urbis conditce , from 
the year of the founding of the city, i.e. Rome), or 
509 before the Christian Era. 

III. The office of Dictator, to meet pressing 
exigencies, was instituted a.u.c. 253, or 501 b.c. 

IV. The Decemvirs, appointed in 451 b.c. to 
frame a body of laws and to take upon them the 
whole government of the state, did their work in 
one year. Their magistracy ended 305 a.u.c., or 
449 b.c. 

V. The Military Tribunes with the authority of 
Consuls, a.u.c. 310, or 444 b.c. After them the 
Consular Government was restored. 

VI. The rule of Sulla began in 672 a.u.c., or 
82 b.c., under the title of Dictator. This ended in 
675 a.u.c., or 79 b.c. 

VII. The Triumvirate of Pompey, Crassus, and 
Julius Caesar, a.u.c. 699, or 55 b.c. 




Chap. XVIII. ROME IN HER GLORY. 


157 


VIII. Caesar became Perpetual Dictator, Impe- 
rator, or Emperor, as the office is now termed, 
a.u.c. 704, or 46 b.c. 

IX. The Triumvirate of Antony, Lepidus, and 
Augustus, a.u.c. 711, or 43 b.c., lasted till 36 b.c. 

X. The supreme power was vested in Augustus, 
a.u.c. 724, or 30 b.c., and from this time the Caesars 
or Emperors governed Rome to the year 96 of the 
Christian Era. 

The reign of Augustus was for the most part 
peaceful and splendid. His Army of the Rhine, 
under Publius Quintilius Varus, met with a great 
reverse near the river Ems, and this destruction 
of his legions preyed upon his mind in his old age, 
amid the general prosperity and splendor. It is 
said that he would sometimes beat his head against 
the wall and cry, “ Varus, Varus, give me back my 
legions! ” 

He met death serenely. 

“ Will there be a tumult made on my departure ? ” 
he asked. 

“None,” was the cheerful answer. 

“ Bring me a mirror.” 

He looked at his gray hair and beard. He saw 
that the winter of age was in them, and he knew 
that all the treasures and palaces of Rome could 
not return him his lost youth again. 

“ Have I played my part well ? ” he asked. 

“Then give me your applause,” he replied, in the 
lines of Greek verse. 

The death and last rites of Augustus were pic¬ 
tured by Suetonius in a very poetic way. We give 
a page from this writer, which distinctly pictures 
the scenes: — 

“ Upon the day of his death, he now and then 


158 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. Chap. XVIII. 


inquired if there was any disturbance in the town 
on his account; and calling for a mirror, he ordered 
his hair to be combed, and his shrunk cheeks to be 
adjusted. Then asking his friends who were ad¬ 
mitted into the room, ‘Do ye think that I have 
acted my part on the stage of life well ? ’ he imme¬ 
diately subjoined, 

‘“If all be right, with joy your voices raise, 

In loud applauses to the actor’s praise/ 

After which, having dismissed them all, whilst he 
was inquiring of some persons who were just arrived 
from Rome concerning Drusus’s daughter, who was 
in a bad state of health, he expired suddenly, amidst 
the kisses of Livia, and with these words, ‘ Livia! 
live mindful of our union; and now farewell! ? 
dying a very easy death, and such as he himself had 
always wished for. For as often as he heard that 
any person had died quickly and without pain, he 
wished for himself and his friends the like easy 
death. He betrayed but one symptom, before he 
breathed his last, of being delirious, which was 
this: he was all of a sudden much frightened, and 
complained that he was carried away by forty 
men. But this was rather a presage than any 
delirium; for precisely that number of soldiers, 
belonging to the praetorian cohort, carried out his 
corpse. 

“ He expired in the same room in which his father, 
Octavius, had died, when the two Sextuses, Pompey 
and Apuleius, were consuls, upon the fourteenth 
of the calends of September [the 19th August], at 
the ninth hour of the day, being seventy-six years 
of age, wanting only thirty-five days. His remains 
were carried by the magistrates of the municipal 


Chap. XVIII. ROME IN HER GLORY. 


159 


towns and colonies, from Kola, where he died, to 
Bovillae, and in the night-time, because of the season 
of the year. During the intervals, the body lay in 
some basilica, or great temple, of each town. At 
Bovillae it was met by the Equestrian Order, who 
carried it to the city, and deposited it in the vesti¬ 
bule of his own house. The Senate proceeded with 
so much zeal in the arrangement of his funeral, and 
paying honor to his memory, that, amongst several 
other proposals, some were for having the funeral 
procession made through the triumphal gate, pre¬ 
ceded by the image of Victory, which is in the 
senate-house, and the children of highest rank and 
of both sexes singing the funeral dirge.” 

The funeral was finally simple. The senators 
bore his body on their shoulders to the Campus 
Martius, where it was burned. A seer claimed to 
have seen his spirit ascend to heaven from the 
funeral pile. The vision was in harmony with the 
times and the event, for the Senate accorded to 
Augustus divine honors, and art put his memory 
into her masterpieces. 

Augustus was born a.u.c. 691, or 63 b.c., and died 
a.u.c. 766, or 14 a.d. His reign is, perhaps, the most 
notable of any emperor who ever lived, for apart 
from art, literature, and glory, the event in Judea 
began an invisible kingdom in the world, whose 
influence was to exceed empires, senates, and states, 
and outlast them all. 

We now come to the time of the Ten Caesars, 
whose reigns cover a long epoch of splendor, vice, 
tragedy, and decay, and embrace some of the darkest 
pages of human history. 

For all the splendors and treasures and armies of 
Rome could not prevent one of these wicked 


160 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XVIII. 


emperors from receiving the exact punishment of 
his sins, as though he were any common man, as 
you shall be told and shown. Character is every¬ 
thing, and wealth and power cannot arrest the fulfil¬ 
ment of a single law of God. 

(1) Tiberius was the first of the Ten Caesars, who 

followed the Augus¬ 
tan Age, and whose 
period ended with 
Domitian. 

He was the step¬ 
son and adopted heir 
of Augustus. He had 
a reserved and mo¬ 
rose disposition, and 
no one could tell 
what his character 
really was until he 
came to the imperial 
power. He led a 
double life while Au¬ 
gustus lived, and be¬ 
came almost wholly 
bad as soon as he 
was relieved of re¬ 
straint. 

He was suspected 
of having poisoned 
his nephew German- 
icus, of whose influ¬ 
ence he was jealous, at the beginning of his reign. 
He for a time entrusted the affairs of state to 
Sejanus, but he became jealous of him, and caused 
him to be put to death. His vices grew, and with 
his slavery to his evil passions he came to be sus- 



Tiberius. 













Chap. XVIII. ROME IN HER GLORY. 


161 


picious of every one, and to be a friend of Tiberius 
was to be marked for death. 

He at last began to be in terror for his own life, 
and left Rome and hid himself on the island of 
Capri. Here his crimes haunted him. He once 
attempted to return to Rome. As he landed near 
the city, there came out a crowd of people to salute 
him. Knowing his unworthiness, he was so terrified 
by the shouts that he ordered his oarsmen to take 
him back to his island, which he never left again. 
His death was miserable and tragic, as his life had 
been. 

We have told you of Tacitus, the Roman historian 
who followed Livy, and .who wrote with great 
beauty and power. We have given you some pages 
from Livy. Let us give you the page of Tacitus 
that pictures the death of Tiberius. After reading 
Livy you will wish to read Tacitus, who was a father 
of Roman history, and whose art is only surpassed 
by Livy himself: — 

“ As for Tiberius, his body was now wasted and 
his strength exhausted, but his dissimulation failed 
him not. He exhibited the same inflexibility of 
mind, the same energy in his looks and discourse; 
and even sometimes by affected vivacity tried to 
hide his decaying strength, though too manifest to 
be concealed. And after much shifting of places, he 
settled at length at the promontory of Misenum, in 
a villa of which Lucullus was once lord. 1 There it 
was discovered that his end was approaching in the 
following manner: In his train was a physician, 

1 We are told by Plutarch that this villa, formerly the property 
of Caius Marius, was purchased by Lucullus at an immense 
price. (Plutarch, Life of Marius.) Brotiers says the ruins are 
still to be seen, near the promontory of Misenum. 


162 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. Chap. XVIII. 


named Charicles, noted in his profession, not indeed 
to prescribe for the prince in cases of indisposition, 
but that he might have some one to consult if he 
thought proper. Charicles, as if he were departing 
to attend his own affairs, and taking hold of his 
hand under pretence of taking leave, felt his pulse. 
But he did not escape detection, for he instantly 
ordered the entertainment to be renewed; whether 
incensed, and thence the more concealing his dis¬ 
pleasure, is uncertain; but at table he continued 
beyond his wont, as if to do honor to his friend on 
his departure. Charicles, however, assured Magro 
1 that life was ebbing fast, and could not outlast two 
days.’ Hence the whole court was in a bustle with 
consultations, and expresses were despatched to the 
generals and armies. 

“ On the seventeenth before the calends of April, 
he was believed to have finished his mortal career, 
having ceased to breathe; and Caligula, in the 
midst of a great throng of persons, paying their 
congratulations, was already going forth to make a 
solemn entrance on the sovereignty, when suddenly 
a notice came, ‘ that Tiberius had recovered his sight 
and voice, and had called for some persons to give 
him food to restore him.’ The consternation was 
universal; the concourse about Caligula dispersed 
in all directions, every man affecting sorrow, or 
feigning ignorance; he himself stood fixed in 
silence, — fallen from the highest hopes, he now 
expected the worst. Macro, undismayed, ordered 
the old man to be smothered with a quantity of 
clothes, and the door-way to be cleared. Thus 
expired Tiberius, in the seventy-eighth year of his 
age.” 

It was in the reign of this unhappy emperor that 


Chap. XVIII. ROME IN HER GLORY. 


163 


our Lord was crucified in the Roman province of 
Judea, and that Christianity was organized by St. 
Peter, which at a later date was propagated by the 
missionary journeys of St. Paul. It seems remark¬ 
able that the pure teachings of a new life and the 
visible work and power of the Holy Spirit should 
have begun under the shadow of the reign of Ti¬ 
berius. 

(2) Tiberius died a.d. 37, and was succeeded 
by his nephew Caligula, or Little Shoe, as he had 
been called when a boy in the army. He began to 
reign well at the age of twenty-five, but his char¬ 
acter changed with the temptations of power. He, 
too, became cruel and distrustful, and put to death 
all whom he disliked, or who offended him. He 
was a second Tiberius, and came, like his uncle, to 
hate everybody. 

“ I would that the Roman people had but one 
neck,” he once said, “ then would I behead them 
all at once.” 

He not only hated the living, but the heroic and 
virtuous dead. He caused the works of the great 
poets of the Augustan age to be burned, and de¬ 
faced the statues that most honored Rome. He 
tore the curls from the statue of Cincinnatus, and 
broke off the collar of the statue of Torquatus. 
He made his horse a consul. 

His rule at last could be endured no longer, and 
he was assassinated as a common enemy of the 
Roman people. Think of an empire numbering 
from one hundred and twenty million to one hundred 
and fifty million people being ruled by the will of 
such a man, and be thankful that we live under 
the government of the people, and that justice is 
the aim of all. 


164 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. Chap. XVITI. 


(3) Caligula was followed by Claudius. He 
was a dull man, and when the people came to make 
him king he thought that they had come to murder 
him. He had been educated with great severity 
by a pedagogue who had been a mule-driver. His 
own family had despised him for his dulness, and 
when his mother wished to reproach any one for a 
lack of wit, she used to say heartlessly, “ You are 
a bigger fool than Claudius.” 

He had a good heart, and promised to reign well, 
but he fell under the influence of the artful, design¬ 
ing, wicked spirits of the 
time. He ruled the prov¬ 
inces in a fatherly spirit. 
He gave the Jews a king 
of their own race, Herod 
Agrippa. 

His last wife, Agrippina, 
was one of the worst 
women in history. She 
was his niece, and the 
mother of Nero, who be¬ 
came one of the most 
dreadful of characters, and 
whose vices are an eternal proverb. Claudius had 
a son of his own, Britannicus, but he adopted his 
step-son, Nero, and the wicked Agrippina did all 
in her power to set aside the rightful claims of 
Britannicus, and to prepare her son Nero for the 
throne. 

Claudius is supposed to have been poisoned by 
Agrippina. He died in the sixty-fourth year of 
his life, and the fourteenth of his reign, and was 
not succeeded by his own son whom he loved, but 
by his step-son Nero, who was at first ruled by the 



Claudius. 


Chap. XVIII. ROME IN HER GLORY. 


165 


influence of Agrippina. One of the masterpieces 
of history is the account which Tacitus gives of the 
early days of Nero. 

(4) Nero had been brought up under the influ¬ 
ence of a very noble schoolmaster, Seneca the Stoic. 
It is remarkable that two of the worst men of his¬ 
tory, Nero and Louis XV. of France, should have 
had the best of teachers. Seneca, the teacher of 
Nero, and Fenelon, the teacher of Louis XV., will 
be forever famous for tfieir learning and virtues 
and worthy influ¬ 
ence on mankind. 

But to change the 
blood of bad ances¬ 
tors which their pu¬ 
pils had inherited 
was beyond their 
power. It would 
seem that only the 
new spiritual life in 
the soul, as taught 
by the Teacher of 
Judea, can alter bad 
heredity, and be¬ 
come the graft that 
will make a bad tree 
bear good fruit. 

Education alone is 
not always adequate. The soul itself must be 
changed, to change the character. 

We must speak of Seneca here, for he was one of 
the great and noble figures in the corrupt age of 
the Caesars. He was born about the date of the 
Christian Era. He was brought to Rome in his 
boyhood to study eloquence, but his mind turned 



Agrippa. 


166 


THE AUGUST A i V AGE. 


Chap. XVIIL 



to philosophy, and he chose for his teacher a Stoic 
named Attalus. After filling certain offices in Rome, 
he undertook the education of Nero, whom he sought 
to lead to a life of honor, virtue, and sympathy with 
the people. He utterly failed, and Nero at last 
ordered him to commit suicide. 

Tacitus gives us some vivid pages in relation to 
the association of Seneca and Nero. One of these 

relates to an 
attempt of the 
old pedagogue 
to break away 
from the influ¬ 
ence of his 
pupil after the 
latter had 
come to the 
throne and was 
filling Rome 
with crimes. 
Seneca had 
been accused 
of using his 
influence with 
Nero to accu¬ 
mulate wealth, 
and Tacitus, with dramatic art, puts the following 
speech into the mouth of Seneca, addressed to 
Nero. If the speech was really never delivered in 
this noble way, it yet presents a most interesting 
view of the life of the philosopher, and of the 
times in which he lived: — 

“ Seneca,” says Tacitus, “ was not unapprised of 
the efforts of his calumniators, as they were dis¬ 
closed to him by such as retained some concern for 


Seneca. 


Chap. XVIII. ROME IN HER GLORY. 


167 


the interests of virtue; and as the emperor mani¬ 
fested daily more shyness toward him, he besought 
an opportunity of speaking to him, and having ob¬ 
tained it, thus began: ‘ This is the fourteenth year, 
Caesar, since I was summoned to train you for your 
high destiny; and the eighth since your advance¬ 
ment to the Empire. During the intervening period, 
you have showered such honors and riches upon 
me, that nothing is wanting to complete my felicity 
but the capacity to use them with moderation. I 
shall quote great examples, such as are adapted, 
not to my station and fortune, but to yours. Au¬ 
gustus, from whom you are the fourth in descent, 
granted to Marcus Agrippa leave to retreat to Mity- 
lene, and to Caius Maecenas he allowed, even in 
Rome itself, a retirement as complete as in any for¬ 
eign country: the former his companion in the 
wars ; the other long harassed at Dome with mani¬ 
fold occupations and public cares: both received 
rewards ample indeed, but proportioned to their 
services. For myself, what other claims upon your 
munificence have I been able to advance, except my 
literary attainments, nursed, so to speak, in the 
shades of retirement, and which have been rendered 
famous, because I am believed to have assisted your 
early years in the acquisition of learning; a glori¬ 
ous reward for such a service ! But you encom¬ 
passed me with boundless favors, unnumbered 
riches; so that when I ruminate upon my situation, 
as I often do, I say to myself, Can it be that I, the 
son of a knight, the native of a province, am ranked 
among the chief men of Kome ? Has my upstart 
name acquired splendor among the nobles of the 
land, and men who glory in a long line of honored 
ancestors ? Where then is that philosophic spirit 


168 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. Chap. XVIII. 


which professed to be satisfied with scanty sup¬ 
plies ? is it employed in adorning such gardens as 
these ? in jjacing majestically through these sub¬ 
urban retreats ? does it abound in estates so exten¬ 
sive as these, and in such immense sums put out at 
interest ? One plea only occurs to my thoughts; 
that it becomes not me to oppose your bounties. 

“ But both of us have now filled up our measure : 
you, of all that the bounty of a prince could confer 
upon his friend ; I, of all that a friend could accept 
from the bounty of his prince. Every addition can 
only furnish fresh materials for envy; which, 
indeed, like all other earthly things, lies postrate 
beneath your towering greatness ; but weighs heav¬ 
ily on me : I require assistance. Thus, in the same 
manner as, were I weary and faint with the toils of 
warfare or a journey, I should implore indulgence, 
so in this journey of life, old as I am, and unequal 
even to the lightest cares, since I am unable longer 
to sustain the weight of my own riches, I seek pro¬ 
tection. Order your own stewards to undertake the 
direction of my fortune, and to annex it to your 
own ; nor shall I by this plunge myself into poverty; 
but having surrendered those things by whose 
splendor I am exposed to the assaults of envy, all 
the time which is set apart for the care of gardens 
and villas I shall apply once more to the cultivation 
of my mind / 5 

Nero refused to become the guardian of Seneca’s 
wealth. He replied nobly at this time, although he 
afterwards ordered his pedagogue to put himself to 
death. According to picturesque Tacitus, he said : — 

“You nursed my childhood and directed my 
youth by your moral lessons, and as for the favors you 
have received from me, I see occasion to blush that 


Chap. XVIII. ROME IN HER GLORY. 


169 


a man who holds the highest place in my esteem 
does not yet transcend all others in the gifts of 
fortune.” 

Alas for human friendships when the heart is 
untrue ! Nero at the time may have meant what he 
said, but the heart that is unfaithful to one will be 
in time untrue to another. Seneca died like a Stoic. 
He said, in parting with his friends, “I bequeath 
to you the example of my life.” 

The first of the tragedies of Nero’s reign was the 
destruction of Britannicus, the son of Claudius. 
Nero was jealous of him for many reasons, one of 
which was his beautiful voice. Nero aspired to be 
an actor and a public singer. Suetonius gives a 
very interesting account of this ambition. He 
says: — 

“ Nor did he omit any of those expedients which 
artists in music adopt for the preservation and 
improvement of their voices. He would lie upon 
his back with a sheet of lead upon his breast, clear 
his stomach and bowels by vomits and clysters, and 
forbear the eating of fruits or food prejudicial to 
the voice. Encouraged by his proficiency, though 
his voice was naturally neither loud nor clear, he 
was desirous of appearing upon the stage, frequently 
repeating amongst his friends a Greek proverb to 
this effect: ‘that no one had any regard for music 
which they never heard.’ Accordingly, he made 
his first public appearance at Naples; and although 
the theatre quivered with the sudden shock of an 
earthquake, he did not desist until he had finished 
the piece of music he had begun. He played and 
sung in the same place several times, and for several 
days together, taking only now and then a little 
respite to refresh his voice. Impatient of retire- 


170 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE . 


Chap. XVIII. 


ment, it was his custom to go from the bath to the 
theatre ; and after dining in the orchestra, amidst a 
crowded assembl } 7 of the people, he promised them 
in Greek, ‘that after he had drank a little he would 
give them a tune which would make their ears 
tingle.’ Being highly pleased with the songs 
that were sung in his praise by some Alexandrians 
belonging to the fleet just arrived at Naples, he 
sent for more of the like singers from Alexandria. 
At the same time he chose young men of the 
equestrian order, and above five thousand robust 
young fellows from the common people on purpose 
to learn various kinds of applause, called bombi, 
imbrices , and testce, which they were to practise in 
his favor whenever he performed.” 

There are few stories in history that are more 
touching than that of the^-manner in which the un¬ 
fortunate Britannicus died. Tacitus thus describes 
the scene: — 

“During the festival of the Saturnalia, among 
other sports practised by those of the same age with 
him, they drew lots who should be king of the play, 
when the lot fell upon Nero : he therefore gave to all 
the rest distinct commands, yet such as exposed 
them to no ridicule : and when he ordered Britannicus 
to rise, and advancing to the centre to begin some 
song, he expected that the boy would become an 
object of derision, unhabituated as he was to sober 
society, and much more so to drunken revels; but 
with perfect self-possession he pronounced some 
verses, which imported how ‘ he was thrown out of 
his father’s throne and imperial power.’ Hence he 
drew compassion from those who heard him, the 
more unequivocal as the midnight hour and extrav¬ 
agant mirth had banished dissimulation. Nero, 


Chap. XVIII. ROME IN HER GLORY. 


171 


struck with the invidious application, conceived a 
still stronger aversion to him; and, urged to despatch 
by the menaces of Agrippina, as he had no crime to 
allege against his brother, and dared not command 
his execution openly, he set about a secret machina¬ 
tion ; he ordered poison to be prepared, and as his 
instrument employed Julius Pollio, tribune of a 
praetorian cohort, in whose custody was kept the 
woman named Locusta, who was under sentence for 
poisoning, and was notorious for her many iniquities. 
For care had been long since taken that those who 
were about the person of Britannicus should be 
such as had no sense of virtue or honor. The first 
poison he took was even administered by the hands 
of his tutors, but he avoided it; whether it wanted 
energy, or had been qualified so as not to act with 
sudden violence. Nero, who was impatient at the 
tardy execution of the guilty deed, began to threaten 
the tribune and doom the sorceress to execution, 
‘ for that while they were looking to public opinion, 
and meditating the means of clearing themselves, 
they impeded his security.’ They then undertook 
to despatch him as instantaneously as if he were run 
through with a sword ; and in a chamber next to 
the emperor’s the deadly potion was seethed, com¬ 
pounded of poisons whose rapid action had been 
proved. 

“ It was a custom for the children of princes, 
with other young nobles, to eat their meals in a 
sitting posture, in the sight of their friends, at a 
table of their own and less costly. Britannicus 
thus taking his food, — for as much as whatever he 
ate or drank was first tasted by a special officer, 
that neither this usage might be omitted, nor by 
the death of both the iniquity be detected, —the fol- 


172 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. Chap. XVIII. 


lowing artifice was concerted. A cup of drink, as 
yet harmless, and tried by the taster, but scalding 
hot, was handed to Britannicus; and when he re¬ 
fused it on account of its being too hot, cold water 
was poured into it, containing a poison which so 
completely entered his whole system that he was 
at once bereft of speech and breath. Fear and 
trembling seized his companions; such as compre¬ 
hended not the mystery made off instantly, but 
those of deeper discernment remained, with their 
eyes fixed steadfastly upon Nero; who, as he lay in 
a reclining posture, declared with an air of uncon¬ 
sciousness, ‘that he was used to be so affected by 
reason of the falling sickness, with which Britanni¬ 
cus from his early childhood had been afflicted; 
and that by degrees his sight and senses would 
return.’ But in Agrippina such tokens of alarm 
and consternation discovered themselves, though by 
her looks she labored to suppress them, that it was 
manifest she was as much a stranger to the affair as 
his own sister Octavia ; and well they might, for 
she was sensible that her last refuge was torn from 
her, and that here was a precedent for parricide. 
Octavia too, though in the artlessness of youth, had 
learned to hide her grief, her tenderness, and every 
other affection. Accordingly, after a short silence, 
the delights of the banquet were resumed. 

“ One night coupled the murder of Britannicus 
and his funeral pile; for the appointments of his 
burial, which were on a moderate scale, had been 
prepared beforehand. He was, however, buried in 
the Campus Martius, during such tempestuous rains 
that the populace believed them to be denunciations 
of the wrath of the gods against the deed.” 

Nero at last sought the murder of his own 


Chap. XVIII. ROME IN HER GLORY. 


173 


mother, whose wicked arts had brought him to the 
throne. He had contrived a cunning plan by 
which she should be drowned on a galley which 
should suddenly go to pieces, but she escaped the 
wreck, and assassins were despatched to do his 
will. Her death is too dreadful to be described. 

Hero gave himself wholly up to his vices. There 
fell a great fire upon Rome, and he is said to have 
revelled while Rome was burning. He caused 
Christians to be wrapped up in tar, and to be 
burned as torches in his gardens. He died a 
cowardly and miserable 
death by suicide ; having 
not the courage to drive 
the dagger or sword into 
his breast, he compelled a 
slave to do it. He was 
but thirty years of age 
when he thus perished as 
the result of the passions 
that had ruled his life, 

A.D. 68. 



Arch of Nero. 


We have given you a glance at the splendid 
houses on the Palatine. To these Hero added the 
Golden House. The splendor of this house was 
almost beyond belief. A few sentences from 
Suetonius in regard to it will fill your mind with 
wonder. He says : — 

“ In nothing was he more prodigal than in his 
buildings. He completed his palace by continuing 
it from the Palatine to the Esquiline Hill, calling 
the building at first only ‘ The Passage,’ but after 
it was burnt down and rebuilt, ‘ The Golden House.’ 
Of its dimensions and furniture it may be sufficient 
to say this much : the porch was so high that there 






174 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. Chap. XVIII. 


stood in it a colossal statue of himself a hundred 
and twenty feet in height; and the space included 
in it was so ample that it had triple porticos a 
mile in length, and a lake like a sea, surrounded 
with buildings wdiich had the appearance of a city. 
Within its area were corn fields, vineyards, pastures, 
and woods, containing a vast number of animals of 
various kinds, both wild and tame. In other parts 
it was entirely overlaid with gold, and adorned 
with jewels and mother of pearl. The supper 
rooms were vaulted, and compartments of the 
ceilings, inlaid with ivory, were made to revolve, 
and scatter flowers, while they contained pipes 
which shed unguents upon the guests. The chief 
banqueting room was circular, and revolved per¬ 
petually, night and day, in imitation of the motion 
of the celestial bodies. The baths were supplied 
with water from the sea and the Albula. Upon 
the dedication of this magnificent house after it 
was finished, all he said in approval of it was, 

‘ that he had now a dwelling fit for a man.’ ” 

Better would it have been for Nero had he 
followed the counsels of Seneca, and builded out 
of a noble character a Golden House of Virtue to 
have shone forever like a star amid the benefactors 
of the world. 

The race of the Caesars becoming extinct in 
Nero, the armies began to create emperors, and 
there was a rivalry in these elections between the 
armies of the East and of the West. 

(5) Galba was first chosen emperor, but was 
soon overthrown. He was followed by (6) Otho, 
who shared a similar fate, and by (7) Vitellius, 
who went down like the others. The armies of 
Rome now quickly began to make and unmake 


Chap. XVIII. ROME IN HER GLORY. 


175 


the imperial power. Next came Vespasian in the 
uncertain successions, after the army became the 
governing power. (8) Vespasian was sent by 
Nero to wage war against the Jews. He reduced 
Judea, and he left the siege of Jerusalem to his 
son Titus, and repaired to Nome at a time of 
national disorder. He pacified the city, and was 
made military emperor, and followed Nero in the 
real tenure, or supreme power. He died 79 a.d. 
after a reign of ten years. Vespasian left two 
sons, Titus and Domitian, the first of whom was 
called the Delight of Mankind. It was this 
Titus who destroyed Jerusalem, as recorded by 
Josephus. 

(9) Titus succeeded Vespasian. He had been 
hailed as the future emperor after the conquest of 
Judea. He was a 
most accomplished 
and amiable man, a 
lover of poetry and 
the arts, and as “ com¬ 
panion of his father 
in the government for 
many years, he had 
well learned the du¬ 
ties of state. He was 
very popular from his 
many noble deeds. 

In his reign an erup¬ 
tion of Vesuvius overturned Herculaneum and Pom¬ 
peii, a thrilling account of which has been left by 
Pliny the Younger. 

He reigned only two years, two months, and 
twenty days. He loved his farms, and while going 
to one of them for rest he fell sick of a fever by 



Vespasian. 



176 


THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 


Chap. XVIII. 


the way. He was carried on by a litter, and 
finding death approaching, he said: — 

“I have done but one act in life that I have 
occasion to repent.” 

Tacitus, who wrote the Annals , from which we 
have liberally drawn, was a son-in-law of Titus. 

(10) Homitian followed him in the purple, a 
man whose life was full of contradictions of good 
and evil, and who did unaccountable things. There 
seems to have existed in him two Domitians, one 
good, great, and noble, and another cunning, cruel, 
and depraved. Suetonius in a masterly way 
pictures these contradictions of good and evil. 

But his evil spirit prevailed at last, and the good 
angel vanished and left him a terror to himself. 
When he was about to destroy a man he would 
pretend to be his best friend, and he would toy 
with a human victim to his cunning and cruelty as 
a cat with a mouse. His court became filled with 
terror, and a plot was formed to destroy him, as 
cunning as any he ever formed to take the life of 
another. 

He had walks of luminous stones made so that 
when he went into his porticos he could look be¬ 
hind him, and see that no assassin approached him. 
When he held an audience with a messenger, he 
held the messenger by a chain. He had tasters 
and guards, and took every means to prevent his 
secret enemies from killing him. 

But one day a steward came to him with a 
wounded arm, or one that had the appearance 
of being wounded. The arm was bandaged and 
wrapped in wool. In the wool was a dagger. 
That dagger ended his life a.d. 96. 

With Domitian ended the great epoch of the 


Chap. XVIII. ROME IN HER GLORY. 


177 


Caesars, although the emperors after Domitian 
were called Caesars. 

After the Golden age of Literature in the time 
of Augustus, came the Silver age. Among the 
poets of this age were Lucanus (Lucan), a friend of 
Nero, and who perished by that emperor’s order, 
and Juvenal, a second Horace. We shall speak of 
Juvenal again. 

“ I would like most to have seen three things in 
the world,” says an historic student: “ Christ in the 
flesh, Paul on Mars’ Hill, and Rome in her glory.” 
These events belong to the period of the Caesars. 

Along the Appian Way to Rome came Paul on 
his missionary journey, in the days of Nero. The 
Rome of that day has vanished, but the influence 
of that missionary journey remains in the world, 
and leads the thoughts and souls of mankind. 

At the same period Peter preached at Rome the 
doctrines on which he had founded the Church at 
Jerusalem. His soul, too, fills the world. Yet 
both St. Paul and St. Peter were probably martyrs 
in the days of Nero, and among the most obscure 
and despised of the martyrs of those dark days. 



Judea Captive. 








Part IV 


THE LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


CHAPTER XIX. — The Antonines.— Marcus Aurelius, 
Pliny, Juvenal. 

CHAPTER XX. — The Church of the Catacombs and 
the Flavian Amphitheatre. 

CHAPTER XXI. — Rome celebrates her 1000th Birth¬ 
day.— The Secular Games.—The Saturnalia. 

CHAPTER XXII. — Tales of Ancient Rome, by the 
Dramatic Poets. 

CHAPTER XXIII. — The Triumph of Christianity by 
the Fall of Heathen Rome. 


179 


































































































































































































- 





















































































































































THE CASTLE OF ST. ANGELO, OR TOMB OF HADRIAN. 










































' 















































. 






•I 



































































CHAPTER XIX. 


The Antonines. — Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. 

N the days of Claudius there appeared in the 



JL streets of Rome a man of gigantic stature, fol¬ 
lowed by his wife. The dress of the two was bar¬ 
baric, and indicated a rude and primitive people. 

They were captives from Britain, and were led 
by a Roman general. As they passed by the pal¬ 
aces of the Palatine, and in view of the temples 
and houses of the Sacred Way — Via Sacra — the 
spectacle filled them with wonder. 

The tall Britain at last said to an attendant: — 

“ How can men who possess such % palaces make 
such efforts to conquer our poor hovels ?” 

This was Caractacus, who had bravely defended 
Britain against an overwhelming Roman invasion, 
but had been overcome and brought to Rome to 
add to the long triumphs of the emperors. 

The captive Britons were summoned before the 
throne of Claudius and the Empress Agrippina. 
When the wife of Caractacus saw the empress, she 
threw herself at her feet and implored her pity. 
The British chief and his wife were made free, and 
became one of the eminent Roman families. 

Little would any Roman have thought that the 
island from which came that poor captive woman, 
who fell down before Claudius and Agrippina, would 
become the mistress of the world, and that its chief 


181 


182 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XIX. 


city, London, would succeed Rome in the course of 
time as the metropolis of the world. Yet these 
events were to come! Julius Caesar had invaded 
Britain about the year 55 b.c., and again in 54 b.c. 
Rome was a Republic then. Ninety-six years 
passed, and the Republic had become an Empire. 
The armies of Claudius followed the footsteps of 
Caesar, and completed the subjugation of the island 
that was to become the mistress of the seas. 

Trajan, whose column of victories may still be 
seen in Rome, and whom Nerva had adopted as his 

successor, followed in 
the imperial line, in 
98. He was so good 
a ruler as to have won 
the title of Optimus, 
or the Best. He was 
succeeded by Had¬ 
rian, who built the 
Roman wall in Brit¬ 
ain, from sea to sea. 
He erected for him¬ 
self a tomb that was 
known as the Mole or 
Mausoleum of Had¬ 
rian. It became a 
fortress. It was re¬ 
nowned in the Mid¬ 
dle Ages, and was 
used as a papal pal¬ 
ace. As Pope Gregory, 
about the year 590, was leading a procession, walk¬ 
ing with bare feet, he had a vision of the Archangel 
St. Michael, who appeared in the sky over the Mole 
or Mausoleum of Hadrian. It was at the time of 




TRAJAN’S COLUMN 


































































Chap. XIX. 


THE ANTONINES. 


183 


the Plague, and he hailed the vision as prophetic, 
and the Mole became known as the Castle of Sant’ 
Angelo, or the Castle of the Holy Angel. This 
monument of Hadrian is still the most conspicuous 
of the buildings of Rome, and the first that is likely 
to impress a stranger. Its situation and form, as 
well as its long history, made it the object from 
which all things seem to radiate in modern Rome. 

The former emperors had persecuted the Chris¬ 
tian faith. Hadrian was the first to listen kindly 
to its teachings. He was succeeded by Titus Aure¬ 
lius Antoninus, an upright man, and a Stoic in his 
views, a builder, and a 
man of peace. He so 
earnestly sought the good 
of his people that he was 
called the Pius. He 
added ramparts in Brit¬ 
ain to the defensive works 
of Hadrian. He adopted 
his son-in-law Marcus Au¬ 
relius as his successor. 

The Empire reached the 
height of its power in the 
days of Trajan, but it at 
tained the height of char¬ 
acter in the person of 
Marcus Aurelius. He was the noblest of all the 
characters of later Roman history, and as it is a 
good thing to read of good men, we must give you 
an extended account of him here. 

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was born 
in Rome, a.d. 121. When a mere child he preferred 
study to the splendors of the court, nature to art, 
and the soul to material concerns. At the age of 



Antoninus. 


184 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XIX. 


twelve lie took the philosophic mantle, as an indi¬ 
cation of his chosen pursuits. He accepted the prin¬ 
ciples of the Stoics, adopted their habits, and found 
his delight in denying himself for the sake of the 
good of his soul. Though heir to the grandest throne 
in the world, he overcame pride, and maintained sim¬ 
ple habits, and in an age of fiery passions he acquired 
the serene disposition of his father-in-law, and be¬ 
came an example of beauty as well as simplicity of 
character. His judgment under such self-restraints 



Coin struck by Antoninus Pius in Memory of 
Faustina the elder. 

became so clear that Antoninus Pius, his father-in- 
law, associated him in the government many years 
before he died. 

One of his first acts on coming to the throne was 
to give Lucius Aurelius Yerus an honored place in 
the government, thus making him his friend. 

He was a man of peace, but he was obliged to 
carry on defensive wars, and led his army in person, 
enduring the lot of the common soldier. 

He was so much a Stoic as to be blind to Chris¬ 
tianity and opposed to it, although he has surpassed 
most Christian kings in living the principles of the 
Christian faith. He seems to have thought Chris- 





TEMPLE OF ANTONINUS AND FAUSTINA. 




























































Chap. XIX. 


THE ANTONINES. 


185 


tianity to be an immoral superstition, as it was then 
called, and if it had good, that his philosophy yet 
transcended it. In one of his campaigns against 
the German tribes on the Danube, he was shut up 
in a place where there was no water, and his army 
seemed about to perish with thirst, when a Chris¬ 
tian legion in his army knelt down and prayed. 
A cloud arose, followed by deluge of rain. The 
Christians attributed the rain to their faith, but 
Aurelius to Jupiter. The scene is represented in 
art in a very dramatic way, the soldiers catching 
the water as it fell on their shields. The Christian 
soldiers who thus called on God became known as 
the Thundering Legion. 

The reign of Aurelius was troubled by plague, 
earthquake, and famine, but amid it all, like a 
Roman Job, he held that all things that happened 
were for the good of all, and that the Divine wis¬ 
dom was to be praised in the darkest events of life. 

He not only made a friend of his rival by doing 
him justice, but forgave his wife, who was untrue to 
him. His strength of character grew with years, 
and he sacrificed self for the good of others, until 
Rome looked upon him as a divinity. Righteous¬ 
ness was the law of his life and his delight. His 
constant teaching was that we possess everything 
by giving up our desires. He thought that most 
men waste life by struggling to fufil their desires 
for things that are neither good for them or for 
others, as for wealth, the gratification of self-will, 
and passion. He used to say: “ Thou hast given 
up thy complaint when thou givest up thy desire 
or opinion.’ 7 He died in the prime of life, of 
malarial fever, in 180, in the 59th year of his age, 
and the 20th of his reign. 


186 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XIX. 


The Empire went into sincere mourning; the 
Senate voted him a god; home set up his images 
for veneration, and the world has never ceased to 
hold his character in high esteem. 

But it is by his published works, written in 
Greek, that he now lives in influence. Except in 
the teachings of the Gospel, perhaps no man ever 
saw truth in a clearer light, or wrote more sublime 
precepts for the guidance of mankind. 

We must give you some extracts from the 
Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius , and hope that you 
will secure the book and read the whole. A young 
person should read the best books first, and among 
the best reading of any age is the noble emperor’s 
meditations. 

I. The whole world is one commonwealth. 

II. That which is not for the interest of the 
whole, is not for the interest of one. (That which 
is not for the interest of the whole swarm, is not 
for the interest of the single bee.) 

III. Cease your complaint, and you are not in¬ 
jured. 

IV. The best revenge is not to imitate an injury. 

V. A man prays to be free from trouble; let him 
rather pray that he may never have such a desire. 

VI. Thou hast given up thy complaint when thou 
givest up thy opinion. 

VII. No man can injure thee unless he makes 
thy character worse. 

VIII. No man can do me a real injury, because 
no man can force me to misbehave myself. 

IX. Let a man serve the divinity within him¬ 
self ; keep himself pure from passion and evil 
affections, from temper and pride, and all manner 
of discontent. 



BAS-RELIEF FROM THE ARCII OF MARCUS AURELIUS 







































































































































































































- 



















































































































































































Chap. XIX. 


THE ANTONINES. 


187 


XII. A thing is neither better nor worse for 
being praised. No virtues stand in need of any 
good word, or are worse for a bad one. An emerald 
will shine, though the world be silent. 

XIII. He that is selfish cuts off his own soul 
from the universal soul, and is an outlaw. 

XIV. What does fame everlasting mean ? Van¬ 
ity. What is then worth our concern ? Nothing 
but this: To have an honest soul, to live for the 
good of others, and to welcome everything that 
happens as good. 

XV. Bearing misfortunes well turns them to 
advantages to the soul. 

XVI. Be sound in word and deed, and you need 
not quarrel with any one. 

XVII. How can anything be a misfortune to a 
man which does not alter his soul ? 

XVIII. Be always doing something serviceable 
to mankind. 

We have given you some specimens of the vivid 
historical works of Livy and Tacitus, and of the 
poems of Virgil and Horace. It is a pleasure now 
to commend to you another writer who lived at 
this period and who wrote in the times of Trajan. 
He was a lover of nature, and delighted in rural 
scenes, and every one has a brotherly feeling for 
such inspirations. 

Pliny was born near Lake Como, 61 a.d. He was 
a nephew of the Pliny, called the Elder, who was 
also a lover of nature, and wrote a book on natural 
history (Historia Naturalis). Pliny, the natural¬ 
ist, also lived on the borders of a lovely Italian 
lake, and on the death of the father of Pliny the 
Younger he adopted the son, and trained him not 
only in literature and art, but in a study of the 


188 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XIX. 


Italian lakes, fields, and mountains. Pliny wrote a 
Greek tragedy at the age of thirteen, and began to 
speak from the Roman Forum at nineteen. He 
became one of the most accomplished men of Rome. 
He was consul in the year 100, and he pronounced 
the grand eulogy of Trajan. 

His letters are among the most renowned in 
ancient literature. Like the pages of Livy they 
glow with life. They are also full of the love of 
nature, of the sky, the sea, the mountains, and the 
groves. 

Pliny had many country seats, and his soul 
delighted to seek beauty in rural scenes. His 
favorite villa was at Lake Como. 

Let us give you a part of one of his letters to a 
friend at Lake Como, which shows his heart, and 
illustrates his charming style: — 

“ How is our dear, darling Como looking ? Tell 
me about that lovely villa, about the colonnade 
where it is always spring, about the shady plane- 
tree walk, about the green and flowery banks of 
that little stream, and of the charming lake below, 
which serves at once the purpose of use and beauty. 
What have you to tell me about the carriage-drive, 
as firm as it is soft, and the sunny bath-room, and 
your dining-rooms, both for a large and a select 
circle of friends, and your various chambers of rest 
and repose by day or night ? Do these delightful 
attractions share you by turns, or are you, as usual, 
called away from them by the pressure of import¬ 
ant business engagements connected with your 
property ? If all these delights have you to them¬ 
selves, you are indeed most fortunate; if not, you 
are like most other people. Why not leave (for 
it is high time) these wretched degrading cares to 


TRIUMPH OF 
[from 


Urc? 


MARCUS AURELIUS. 

A BAS-RELIEF.] 










































Chap. XIX. 


THE A N TO NINES. 


189 


others, and give yourself up in the deep repose of 
such a snug retreat to reading and study ? Make 
these your business and your recreation, your labor 
and your rest, the subjects of your waking and 
even of your sleeping thoughts. Work at some¬ 
thing and produce something which will be yours 
forever. All your other possessions will pass from 
one master to another; this alone when once yours, 
will be yours forever. I know the temper and the 
genius which I am seeking to stimulate. Only 
strive to think yourself what the world will think 
you if you do justice. Farewell.” 

How pleasant it is to hear of that “ colonnade 
where it is always spring,” and out of such remem¬ 
bered experiences, such a voice as this : “ Work at 
something and produce something which shall he yours 
forever.” 

The elder Pliny perished in the eruption of 
Vesuvius, which overthrew Pompeii in a.d. 79. 
The younger Pliny wrote an account of this calam¬ 
ity. We will give you the most thrilling part of 
it here: — 

“ When my uncle had started, I spent such time 
as was left on my studies — it was on their account, 
indeed, that I had stopped behind. Then followed 
the bath, dinner, and sleep, — this last disturbed 
and brief. There had been noticed for many days 
before a trembling of the earth, which had caused, 
however, but little fear, because it is not unusual 
in Campania. But that night it was so violent, 
that one thought that everything was being not 
merely moved but absolutely overturned. My 
mother rushed into my chamber; I was in the act 
of rising, with the same intention of awakening her 
should she have been asleep. We sat down in the 


190 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XIX. 


open court of the house, which occupied a small 
space between the buildings and the sea. 

“ And now — I do not know whether to call it 
courage or folly, for I was but in my eighteenth 
year — I called for a volume of Livy, read it as if 
I were perfectly at leisure, and even continued to 
make some extracts which 1 had begun. 

“ Just then arrived a friend of my uncle, who 
had lately come to him from Spain; when he saw 
that we were sitting down — that I was even read¬ 
ing — he rebuked my mother for her patience, and 
me for my blindness to the danger. Still I bent 
myself as industriously as ever over my book. 

“It was now seven o’clock in the morning, but 
the daylight was still faint and doubtful. The 
surrounding buildings were now so shattered that 
in the place where we were, which, though open, 
was small, the danger that they might fall on us 
was imminent and unmistakable. 

“ So we at last determined to quit the town. A 
panic-stricken crowd followed us. They preferred 
the ideas of others to their own, — in a moment 
of terror this has a certain look of prudence,— 
and they pressed on us and drove us on, as we 
departed, by their dense array. 

“ When we had got away from the building, we 
stopped. There we had to endure the sight of 
many marvellous, many dreadful things. The car¬ 
riages which we had directed to be brought out 
moved about in opposite directions, though the 
ground was perfectly level; even when scotched 
with stones they did not remain steady in the same 
place. Besides this, we saw the sea retire into 
itself, seeming, as it were, to be driven back by the 
trembling movement of the earth. The shore had 


Chap. XIX. 


THE AN TON INKS. 


191 


distinctly advanced, and many marine animals were 
left high and dry upon the sands. 

“ Behind us was a dark and dreadful cloud, which, 
as it was broken with rapid zigzag flashes, revealed 
behind it variously-shaped masses of flame: these 
last were like sheet-lightning, though on a larger 
scale. Then our friend from Spain addressed us 
more energetically and urgently than ever. 

“ 1 If your brother,’ he said, ‘ if your uncle is alive, 
he wishes you to be saved; if he has perished, he 
certainly wished you to survive him. If so, why 
do you hesitate to escape ? ’ 

“ We answered that we could not bear to think 
about our own safety while we were doubtful of 
his. He lingered no longer, but rushed off, making 
his way out of the danger at the top of his speed. 

“It was not long before the cloud that we saw 
began to descend upon the earth and cover the sea. 
It had already surrounded and concealed the island 
of Caprese, and had made invisible the promontory 
of Misenum. My mother besought, urged, even 
commanded me to fly as best I could. 

‘ I might do so,’ she said, ‘ for I was young; she, 
from age and corpulence, could move but slowly, 
but would be content to die, if she did not bring 
death upon me.’ 

“ I replied that I would not seek safety except in 
her company; I clasped her hand, and compelled 
her to go with me. She reluctantly obeyed, but 
continually reproached herself for delaying me. 
Ashes now began to fall — still, however, in small 
quantities. I looked behind me; a dense dark mist 
seemed to be following us, spreading itself over the 
country like a cloud. 

“ ‘ Let us turn out of the way,’ I said, ‘ whilst we 


192 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XIX. 


can still see, for fear that should we fall in the 
road we should be trodden under foot in the dark¬ 
ness by the throngs that accompany us. J 

“We had scarcely sat down when night was upon 
us, — not such as we have when there is no moon, 
or when the sky is cloudy, but such as there is in 
some closed room when the lights are extinguished. 
You might hear the shrieks of women, the mo¬ 
notonous wailing of children, the shouts of men. 
Many were raising their voices, and seeking to 
recognize by the voices that replied, parents, chil¬ 
dren, husbands, or wives. Some were loudly la¬ 
menting their own fate, others the fate of those 
dear to them. Some even prayed for death, in 
their fear of what they prayed for. Many lifted 
their hands in prayer to the gods; more were con¬ 
vinced that there were now no gods at all, and that 
the final endless night of which we have heard had 
come upon the world. 

“There were not wanting persons who exagger¬ 
ated our real perils with terrors imaginary or wil¬ 
fully invented. I remember some who declared 
that one part of the promontory Misenum had 
fallen, that another was on fire; it was false, but 
they found people to believe them. 

“It now grew somewhat light again; we felt sure 
that this was not the light of day, but a proof that 
fire was approaching us. Fire there was, but it 
stopped at a considerable distance from us; then 
came darkness again, and a thick, heavy fall of 
ashes. Again and again we stood up and shook 
^hem off; otherwise we should have been covered 
by them, and even crushed by the weight. 

“I might boast that not a sigh, not a word wanting 
in courage, escaped me, even in the midst of peril 


Chap. XIX. 


THE ANTONINES. 


193 


so great, had 1 not been convinced that I was per¬ 
ishing in company with the universe, and the uni¬ 
verse with me — a miserable and yet a mighty 
solace in death. At last the black mist I had 
spoken of seemed to shade off into smoke or cloud, 
and to roll away. Then came genuine daylight, 
and the sun shone out with a lurid light, such as 
it is wont to have in an eclipse. Our eyes which 
had not yet recovered from the effects of fear, saw 
everything changed, everything covered deep with 
ashes as if with snow. 

“ We returned to Misenum, and, after refreshing 
ourselves as best we could, spent a night of anxiety 
in mingled hope and fear. Fear, however, was still 
the stronger feeling; for the trembling of the earth 
continued, while many frenzied persons, with their 
terrific predictions, gave an exaggeration that was 
even ludicrous to the calamities of themselves and 
of their friends. Even then, in spite of all the 
perils which we had experienced and which we 
still expected, we had not a thought of going away 
till we could hear news of my uncle.” 

We are sure that you will like to read all the 
letters of Pliny. 

Behind the oak hills of Latium was the country 
home of Juvenal, the Satirist, in this Silver age of 
the poets. From the roar of the city, out of the 
Capene Gate, and past the fountain of Numa, with 
its airy legend, — 

“ Here Numa once his nightly visits paid, 

And held high converse with the Egerian maid,” 

the poet used to pass down the Appian Way, which 
towered silent with the shadows of the tombs of 
Rome. The monuments at last grew dim behind 


194 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XIX. 


him, and vanished away. He at length came to his 
farm, amid breezy hills. His rural life is graphi¬ 
cally described in his poems. Like Virgil and 
Horace, he loved to sing the praises of the woods 
and fields. 

Juvenal began his poetic life by writing satires, 
but he became philosophical in mature years. His 
philosophical work was largely that of the analysis 
of causes and consequences : — 

“ The mills of the gods grind slowly, 

But they grind exceeding small.” 

Juvenal must be placed among the poets who 
clearly saw the truth that the only thing worth 
living for in this world is righteousness. He fled 
from Rome to his farm, and here he studied life 
and ridiculed and lamented the vices of the age. 
He died at the age of eighty, under the reign of 
Hadrian. His best work was done after he was 
fifty years of age, and some of his most effective 
poems were written after the age of seventy. Hor¬ 
ace laughed at the follies and vices of his time, 
but Juvenal scores them with indignation. The 
Christian world has honored Juvenal, and, when 
you have read Pliny’s Letters, you may like to 
read a translation of such of the poems of Juvenal 
as remain. These poems were matured by the 
labors of years, and the soul of honor is in them. 
We must introduce to you one of them. 

The poem which we will give in part contrasts a 
humble country repast to which Juvenal invites a 
brother poet from the city with the feasts of 
Rome. 

The Roman feasts at this period were among the 
most luxurious ever known. One of these feasts 


Chap. XIX. 


THE ANTONINES. 


195 


given by a Roman emperor cost a sum equal to 
three hundred thousand dollars. Such feasts were 
given in lofty halls, and were enlivened by musi¬ 
cians, actors, dancers, and jesters. The guests 
reclined on couches while eating and listening to 
the entertainment. 

Snails, many kinds of fish, and all kinds of game 
were served; peacocks in their feathers; animals 
roasted whole. Wine flowed from cups of gold, 
and luscious fruit loaded the tables. 

The Roman feasts among people of rank became 
so expensive and enervating that a law was passed, 
limiting the amount that such an entertainment 
should cost. Juvenal, with the old Roman spirit, 
looked down upon such wasteful gratification of the 
body at the expense of the soul. He believed in 
simple living as a principle, and in feeding the 
mind with noble thought rather than fattening the 
body to become a prey to vices. His feasts were 
simple as to food but rich in intellectual inspira¬ 
tions. He was rich in having but few wants. All 
nature was his possession; the whole realm of 
thought his empire. Like the bird he sang best 
amid the groves and fields. 

“ Enough: to-day my Persicus shall see 
Whether my precepts with my life agree ; 

Whether, with feigned austerity, I prize 
The spare repast, a glutton in disguise, 

Bawl for coarse pottage, that my friends may hear, 

But whisper ‘ sweetmeats ! ’ in my servant’s ear. 

For since, by promise, you are now my guest, 

Know, I invite you to no sumptuous feast, 

But to such simple fare, as long, long since, 

The good Evander hade the Trojan prince. 

Come then, my friend, you will not, sure, despise 
The food that pleased the offspring of the skies ; 


196 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XIX. 


Come, and while fancy brings past times to view, 

I’ll think myself the king, the hero you. 

‘ ‘ Take now your bill of fare ; my simple board 
Is with no dainties from the market stored, 

But dishes all my own. From Tibur’s stock 
A kid shall come, the fattest of the flock, 

The tenderest too, and yet too young to browse 
The thistle’s shoots, the willow’s watery boughs, 
With more of milk than blood; and pullets drest 
With new-laid eggs, yet tepid from the nest, 

And ’sparage wild, which, from the mountain’s side, 
My housemaid left her spindle to provide ; 

And grapes long kept, yet pulpy still, and fair, 

And the rich Signian and the Syrian pear ; 

And apples, that in flavour and in smell 
The boasted Picene equal, or excel: — 

Nor need you fear, my friend, their liberal use, 

For age has mellowed and improved their juice. 

“ How homely this ! and yet this homely fare 
A senator would, once, have counted rare ; 

When the good Curius thought it no disgrace 
O’er a few sticks a little pot to place, 

With herbs by his small garden-plot supplied — 
Food, which the squalid wretch would now deride, 
Who digs in fetters, and, with fond regret, 

The tavern’s savory dish remembers yet! 

“ Time was when on the rack a man would lay 
The seasoned flitch against a solemn day ; 

And think the friends who met with decent mirth 
To celebrate the hour which gave him birth, 

On this, and what of fresh the altars spared 
(For altars then were honored), nobly fared. 

Some kinsman, who had camps and senates swayed, 
Had thrice been consul, once dictator made, 

From public cares retired, would gaily haste, 

Before the wonted hour, to such repast, 

Shouldering the spade, that, with no common toil, 
Had tamed the genius of the mountain soil. — 


Chap. XIX. 


THE ANTONINES. 


197 


Yes, when the world was filled with Rome’s just fame, 
And Romans trembled at the Fabian name, 

The Scauran, and Fabrician ; when they saw 
A censor’s rigor e’en a censor awe, 

No son of Troy e’er thought it his concern, 

Or worth a moment’s serious care to learn, 

What land, what sea, the fairest tortoise bred, 

Whose clouded shell might best adorn his bed. — 

His bed was small, and did no signs impart 
Or of the painter’s or the sculptor’s art, 

Save where the front, cheaply inlaid with brass, 

Showed the rude features of a vine-crowned ass ; 1 
An uncouth brute, round which his children played, 
And laughed and jested at the face it made ! 

Briefly, his house, his furniture, his food, 

Were uniformly plain, and simply good. 

“ Then the rough soldier, yet untaught by Greece 
To hang, enraptured, o’er a finished piece, 

If haply, ’mid the congregated spoils 
(Proofs of his power, and guerdon of his toils), 

Some antique vase of master-hands were found, 

Would dash the glittering bauble on the ground ; 

That in new forms the molten fragments drest 
Might blaze illustrious round his courser’s chest, 

Or, flashing from his burnished helmet, show 
(A dreadful omen to the trembling foe) 

The mighty sire, with glittering shield and spear, 
Hovering, enamoured, o’er the sleeping fair, 

The wolf, by Rome’s high destinies made mild, 

And, playful at her side, each wondrous child. 

“ Thus, all the wealth those simple times could boast. 
Small wealth ! their horses and their arms engrossed ; 
The rest was homely, and their frugal fare, 

Cooked without art, was served in earthenware : 

Yet worthy all our envy, were the breast 
But with one spark of noble spleen possest. 

1 The head was crowned with vine-leaves, the ass being sacred 
to Bacchus. 


198 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XIX. 


Then shone the fanes with majesty divine, 

A present god was felt at every shrine ! 

And solemn sounds, heard from the sacred walls, 

At midnight’s solemn hour, announced the Gauls, 
Now rushing from the main ; while, prompt to save, 
Stood Jove, the prophet of the signs he gave ! 

Yet, when he thus revealed the will of fate, 

And watched attentive o’er the Latian state, 

His shrine, his statue, rose of humble mould. 

Of artless form, and unprofaned with gold. 

‘ ‘ Those good old times no foreign tables sought; 
From their own woods the walnut-tree was brought, 
When withering limbs declared its pith unsound, 

Or winds uptore and stretched it on the ground. 

But now, such strange caprice has seized the great, 
They find no pleasure in the costliest treat, 

Suspect the flowers a sickly scent exhale, 

And think the ven’son rank, the turbot stale. 

Unless wide-yawning panthers, towering high — 
Enormous pedestals of ivory, 

Formed of the teeth which Elephantis sends, 

Which the dark Moor, or darker Indian, vends, 

Or those which, now, too heavy for the head, 

The beasts in Nabathea’s forest shed — 

The spacious orbs support: then they can feed, 

And every dish is delicate indeed ! 

For silver feet are viewed with equal scorn, 

As iron rings upon the finger worn. 

“ To me, forever be the guest unknown, 

Who, measuring my expenses by his own, 

Remarks the difference with a scornful leer, 

And slights my humble house and homely cheer. 
Look not to me for ivory ; I have none: 

My chess-board and my men are all of bone; 

Nay, my knife-handles ; yet, my friend, for this, 

My pullets neither cut nor taste amiss. 


“ My feast, to-day, shall other joys afford : 
Hushed as we sit around the frugal board, 


Chap. XIX. 


THE ANTONINES. 


199 


Great Homer shall his deep-toned thunder roll, 
And mighty Maro elevate the soul; 

Maro, who, warmed with all the poet’s fire, 
Disputes the palm of victory with his sire: 

Nor fear my rustic clerks ; read as they will, 
The bard, the bard, shall rise superior still! ” 



Corn-mill worked by a blind-folded horse driven by a slave, 
who holds a measure of flour. 

















200 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. Chap. XX. 


CHAPTER XX. 


The Church of the Catacombs aud the Flavian Amphitheatre. 
LD Rome is declining amid her splendor. 



v_y “The last shall be first.” A new Rome 
which shall possess the future, is beginning to 
congregate and grow in the great caves that under¬ 
lie the city. It is being founded by the Christians 
who have fled from persecution, and who are mak¬ 
ing their secret place of worship there. 

The growth of the city in the latter days of the 
Republic and early days of the Empire led to the 
formation of immense quarries under the streets, 
suburbs, and immediate neighborhood. The stone 
taken from these quarries was used for building 
purposes, and the caverns grew with the demand 
for the material. These caverns or subterranean 
rooms and galleries were called catacombs. The 
material excavated was called tufa. It was a vol¬ 
canic, sandy rock. 

These catacombs became the hiding-place of per¬ 
secuted people, outlaws, and criminals. 

“Hide yourself in the catacombs,” said one to 
Xero after the sentence of the Senate against him. 

“ I will not go under ground while I am living,” 
was his reported answer. 

The catacombs became places for the burial of 
the dead. It was the custom in Rome to burn 
the bodies of respected citizens, but many people 
were buried, and these as a rule found a resting- 



INTERIOR OF A CATACOMB. 





































































































Chap. XX. CHURCH OF THE CATACOMBS. 


201 


place in the catacombs. Cast out bodies of slaves 
were buried there ; the very poor classes and crim¬ 
inals. The Esquiline Hill at one time became so 
full of bodies as to pollute the air. 

The chambers were called crypts. Such places 
became the dwelling-places as well as the resorts 
for worship of the Christians, as one persecution 
was followed by another. Here the Christians 
were brought into intimate association with the 
underground workers, and these received the Gos¬ 
pel gladly, and so the new faith spread. 

The ignorant converts developed the highest 
characters. They crowned themselves with power 
and purity, shared their bread and wages with 
each other, and lived unselfish lives. Their whole 
purpose was to do what they believed to be the 
will of God. They loved sacrifice, since it en¬ 
riched the soul; despised pain, which was a test 
of faith,, and held death to be a coronation day. 
The more they suffered in body the happier they 
seemed to be in their souls. 

Character made the community or these commu¬ 
nities strong. In their persecutions and poverty 
they were gathering strength to cope with the lux¬ 
urious world above them. They believed that 
Christ was either about to appear in the clouds, 
and reign in the earth, or that his spiritual king¬ 
dom was about to triumph over the earth, and that 
the Christians would possess it. With these views 
they waited, confident that victory over the king¬ 
doms of this world would one day be the end of 
their faith. 

The early Christians were hunted by their perse¬ 
cutors even in these cavernous dwellings. Stephen, 
one of the bishops of Rome, was beheaded in an 


202 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XX. 


underground chapel, while seated in his Episcopal 
chair. 

The members of these hidden communities be¬ 
came missionaries, when peaceful times allowed 
them to appear in light of the day in Rome. 

The Christian martyrs in the times of the Caesars 
numbered millions, and yet the faith grew, and the 
old idols were toppling to their fall. The galleries 
of the catacombs became streets, the great caverns 
towns, and the walls at night echoed with confident 
prayers and triumphal songs. 

The shadowy catacombs, to which the scanty rays 
of light came like a bow of promise or a celestial 
messenger, yet abounded with springs and wells 
of pure water. These were held to be an emblem 
of the faith. 

The Christians buried their dead there, and in 
the inscriptions on these tombs is written their 
history. 

Let us examine one of these inscriptions and try 
to interpret what it says to us: — 



In Christ. 


A lexander is not dead, he lives above the stars and his body 
rests in this tomb. He ended his life under the Emperor 
Antoninus who foreseeing that great benefit would result from 
his services, returned evil for good. For while on his knees 
and about to sacrifice to the true God, he was led away to 
execution. 0 unhappy times, in which among sacred rites 
and prayers, even in caverns we are not safe! What can 
be more wretched than such a life ? and icliat than such a 
death ? When they cannot be buried by their friends and 
relatives; but they shine in heaven. 



Chap. XX. CHURCH OF THE CATACOMBS. 


203 


Strange as it may seem the caverns and galleries 
of the catacombs often run under each other. The 
great city under ground thus had its upper and 
lower abodes, into some of which rays of light pene¬ 
trated and through others of which torches only 
swept. In the dark rooms alone was security. 

From the first century to about the year 400, 
nearly the whole Christian population of Rome was 
buried in the catacombs. 

Some of the early inscriptions on the tombs are 
startling, in their suggestions of the greatness of 
the “noble army of martyrs.” Here is one: — 

Marcella and Jive hundred and jifty martyrs of Christ. 

The triumphs of the martyrs of the catacombs 
over pain and death is one of the most sublime 
chapters of human history. A Latin poet thus 
gives the thoughts of Maxarchus, one of the 
martyrs: — 

“Tear as you will this mangled frame, 

Home to mortality ; 

But think not, man of blood, to tame 
Or take revenge on ME. 

“You overlook in thus supposing 
The noble self that dwells within ; 

Throughout these cruel scenes reposing 
Where nought that injures enters in.” 

The emblems of faith employed in the catacombs 
were the beginnings of Christian art. In the dark 
rooms torches, lamps, and candles were employed, 
and these are said to have been continued as em¬ 
blems in the altar lights of the churches after the 
triumph of Christianity. 


204 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XX. 


The monogram was placed over many 

tombs, and has yS never ceased to be used 
in church decora- /\\ tions. The sign repre¬ 
sents the first two letters of the Greek word for 
Christ, X/aio-ros. It resembles our use of Xmas for 
Christmas. 

The Good Shepherd, the Dove, the Olive Branch, 
the Palm, are found among the tombs of the cata¬ 
combs. The Pipes of Pan, in reality the first organ, 
appears among the rock pictures. The cross con¬ 
taining the monogram was a noble and beautiful 
symbol. 

In the church of the catacombs was developed 
the new kingdom of Christ, now known as the 
Christian world. In those 
days that kingdom lay hidden 
under the feet of lustful and 
cruel emperors; to-day it gov¬ 
erns the kings of the earth, 
and is making kingdoms free, 
and all mankind brothers, and 
righteousness the supreme 
law of the world. As the 
Great Teacher said, “ The 
last shall be first and the 
first last! ” 

While the church was 
thus growing in power in 
the dark caverns under 
Rome, the luxurious city was 
amusing herself with sports and games. Ves¬ 
pasian, to provide amusement for the people of 
Rome, began an immense amphitheatre, which be¬ 
came historic as the Colosseum, or Coliseum. Twelve 
thousand Jews, most of them captives, were em- 



From a Bas-Relief in the 
Vatican. 








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111 ®- 
l-f 


p - m 
pn| 



THE COLOSSEUM 






























Chap. XX. CHURCH OF THE CATACOMBS. 


205 


ployed some five years upon it. It covered nearly 
six acres, and cost $12,000,000. It would accom¬ 
modate eighty-seven thousand spectators, and hold 
one hundred thousand people. Its ruins may still 
be seen in Rome, and have been made the subject 
of several grand poems, among them noble pictures 
by Byron and Shelley. 

The sports and games in the Colosseum were 
brutal, and such as tended to harden the heart, 
and strengthen the pas¬ 
sions. So while charac¬ 
ter was developing and 
becoming heroic in the 
chapels under ground, it 
was being weakened in 
the world’s great play¬ 
house, known as the 
Colosseum. 

The persecuted Chris¬ 
tians were often taken 
to the Colosseum to suf¬ 
fer death and to offer a spectacle for the amuse¬ 
ment of the Roman people. 

Let us go to the Flavian amphitheatre (as the 
Colosseum was first called) in these days of wealth, 
luxury, and persecution. The people are hurrying 
there; the rich in their chariots, the clients, the 
freedmen, and even the slaves. The immense 
structure is open to the sun. The privileged classes 
occupy the lower of the many tiers of seats, the 
clients sit above them, and the very poor people 
sit and stand in the highest gallery. A great cur¬ 
tain is so arranged that it may be drawn to hide 
the sun. 

Let us take seats in the second tier, and look 



The Colosseum. 



206 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XX. 


around. What a scene! It is a day of martyr¬ 
doms, and a hundred thousand people are gathered 
around us. A vast arena stretches before us. It 
can be seen by all of the people in the great circles. 

Around the arena are cages of hungry animals. 
Over one of the galleries hang draperies of purple 
and gold that indicate the seats of the imperial 
family and their attendants. 

The sun pours down on the sands of the open 
arena. There is a murmur of voices everywhere 
like a sea. At times the hoarse, impatient growl of 
a lion is heard as he struggles with the bars of his 
cage. 

The gateway opens, and a lion is let into the 
arena. Another gateway opens, and a man, naked 
except about the loins, rushes into the arena bear¬ 
ing a short sword. He is a gladiator, and is to 
contend with the lion. 

The beast watches his approach. He crouches, 
and springs. The gladiator darts aside, and gives 
the beast a deadly stroke. The lion rolls over, and 
dies, and his body is drawn away by horses. 

Gladiators rush into the arena. They look up to 
the emperor, exclaiming, “ We, who are about to die, 
salute you! ” As they enter upon the contests, one 
hundred thousand faces flash and become rigid, and 
as many hearts rapidly beat. 

When a gladiator falls, his victorious antagonist 
looks upward to the emperor, who makes a signal 
to spare him or slay him. 

There is a deep silence now. A Christian family 
from the catacombs are being led into the arena. 
They have pale faces, but are serene. They meet 
their fate, and their bones are left by wild beasts 
on the sands; people shout! The scenes of the 


Chap. XX. CHURCH OF THE CATACOMBS. 


207 


show are ended, and the gay nobles ride away to 
their palaces, and men crowd the Via Sacra and 
the Forum, and talk idly of the events of the day. 
But it is not in vain that the martyrs have met 
their fate. A better day is at hand. 



A Gladiator. 



208 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XXI. 


CHAPTER XXI. 


Rome celebrates her one-thousandth birthday. — The secular 
games. — The Saturnalia. 

HERE now appears in Rome a new Form of 



JL government, the election of emperors by 
the Praetorian Guard, or by the home army. 
The people lost their power with the loss of the 
Republic. It is a rule of armies and emperors 
now; the army is the governing power, and the 
emperor is its servant, and the people are the 
slaves of the emperor. The Senate is but an in¬ 
fluence, and the consulship but a name. 

Let us review the dates of the changes in govern¬ 
ment in Rome, for the city is soon to celebrate her 
one-thousandth birthday. (248 a.d.) 

Rome founded 753 b.c. 

The kings, to the expulsion of the Tarquins, 753-509 b.c. 

—The Republic, 509-44 b.c. 


Changes under the Republic. 


The Decemvirs, 451 b.c. 

The Plebeian Consulship 366 b.c. 

The First Triumvirate, 60-53 b.c. 

The Second Triumvirate, 43-33, b.c. 

The Empire, 27 b.c. 

Caesar Augustus, and the reign of the Caesars to Domi- 
tian, 33 b.c. to 96 a.d. 

The Antonines, 96-194 a.d. 

The Praetorian Influence and Emperors of the Army, 
197-284 a.d. 



POLLICE VERSO ” (“THUMBS DOWN,” L e., “SLAY HIM 
















Chap. XXI. 


ROME'S CELEBRATION. 


209 


Aurelius was succeeded by Commodus, bis son, 
a weak and foolish man. He was murdered after a 
reign of sixteen years. Pertinax, a more worthy 
ruler, followed him. He was killed by the Prae¬ 
torian Guard, who made Didius Julianus emperor, 
who, it is claimed, bought the office for twenty-five 
thousand sesterces a head. But the two divisions of 
the army became jealous of the Praetorian Guard, as 
the home army was called, and elected generals, 
whom each would make emperor, and marched to 
Rome. The army of the Danube elected Septimius 
'Severus as general, and hoped to bestow upon him 
the imperial power. This army reached Rome first, 
and Severus became emperor, and ruled the Empire 
with an iron hand. He had no fixed throne. His 
throne was his saddle. He travelled over the Em¬ 
pire, causing great roads to be built, and public 
improvements everywhere to be made. He died 
in York, England, 211 a.d. His last command was 
— “ Labor ! ” 

His two sons Caracalla and Geta succeeded him, 
and divided his Empire between them. They were 
both murdered in a few years, Geta being killed 
by his own brother, and the Praetorian Guard chose 
Elagabalus, a lad of nineteen, emperor. He did 
the most absurd things, and angered the Praeto¬ 
rians, who put him to death in 222 a.d. The Guard 
made his cousin Alexander Severus emperor, or 
allowed him to succeed the fantastic Elagabalus. 
He was a good man and respected Christianity. He 
was killed by Praetorians in 235 a.d. 

The Guard made and unmade emperors, except 
when the army overawed them, by naming a fa¬ 
vorite general. Rome was unsettled by this capri¬ 
cious rule for a century. 


210 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XXI. 


One of these inferior emperors was Philip the 
Arabian. His reign is associated with one of the 
most brilliant events in history — the celebration 
of the thousandth birthday of Rome. 

It seems unworthy history that so splendid an 
event should have been celebrated by such an em¬ 
peror. Philip was not only an Arab by birth, but 
in the early part of his life was a robber by pro¬ 
fession. He was a bold soldier, and his success in 
the army led him to aspire to the imperial power, 
and he knew that he had weak and wicked men 
against whom to contend. He took advantage of 
a scarcity of food in the camp to intrigue against 
Gordian, the then military emperor. By intrigue 
after intrigue he created sedition in the army; 
Gordian was killed, and the soldiers made him em¬ 
peror, and the Roman Senate had to accept the 
will of the army. 

Says a writer, reviewing this period of military 
power: “ What in that age was called the Roman 
Empire was only an irregular republic, where the mi¬ 
litia, possessed of sovereignty, created and deposed 
a magistrate. Perhaps it may be laid down as a 
general rule, that a military government is in some 
respects more republican than monarchical.” Will 
there ever come a time when our own country will 
become a military republic ? It is well for my 
young readers to think of the events that led to the 
decline of Rome,—the increase of wealth in the 
hands of the few; the loss of private honor on 
the part of the consuls and Senate, and the conse¬ 
quent lowering of the tone of public honor; pleas¬ 
ure-seeking, the love of brutal sports, and the 
gratification of the senses at the expense of the 
moral powers. To all of the degeneracy, selfish- 



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Hili 


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a Si 










WE, WIIO ARE ABOUT TO DIE, SALUTE THEE. 
















Chap. XXI. 


ROME'S CELEBRATION. 


211 


ness and pride led the way, and vices completed 
the ruin. Ruin ? Yes; even amid the splendid 
festival that we are to describe the Empire is crum¬ 
bling to her fall. Her judgment has not come, but 
it has been pronounced, as judgment is always pro¬ 
nounced when men or nations violate the eternal 
laws of honor and right. 

When Philip returned from his campaign in the 
East, where he had been made emperor, he wished 
to turn the minds of the people from his crimes, 
and to dazzle Rome by generous fetes and pompous 
festivals. He had an oriental and a poetic mind, 
and Rome had now arrived at her one-thousandth 
year. The time of the secular games, too, was at 
hand. Philip thought to unite the secular games 
with the celebration of the one-tliousandth year in 
a manner of surpassing pomp and magnificence. 

You will ask me here, what were the seculai 
games ? The answer we hope will give you an in¬ 
side view of a most picturesque part of Roman his¬ 
tory in the days of the Empire. 

The secular games —seculum meaning an epoch 
of one hundred years — were an ancient institution. 
None who witnessed them once ever witnessed them 
again. They were the holidays of the centuries. 
They were celebrated once in one hundred years or 
one hundred and ten years. Later in the Empire 
they did not follow exact dates, but were produced 
once in a generation. 

They were retrieved by the Emperor Augustus 
from ancient usage after they had been neglected in 
the unsettled period that had led to the loss of the 
Republic and the establishment of the Empire. 
Augustus had a love of what was poetic in Roman 
history, and with this passion he not only inspired 


212 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XXI. 


Virgil and Livy, but the whole people through the 
seculum, or secular games. 

The secular games follow the direction of the 
Sibyl’s Prophecies. The Sibylline Books, as we have 
told you, were the sacred books of Borne. Among 
the directions given in these books for the festival 
of the centuries or generations, was that one 
hymn should be sung to the praise of Apollo and 
Diana. 

Augustus, on reviving the secular games in 738 
a.u.c. or 17 b.c., asked the poet Horace to compose 
this hymn. The poet accordingly produced the 
Carmen Sceculare, or Secular Hymn — 


“ Phoebe, silvarumque potens Diana, 
Lucidum coeli decus, O colendi 
Semper et culti, date, quse precamus 
Tempore sacro. 

“ Quo Sibyllini minuere versus, 
Virgines lectas puerosque castos, 

Dis, quibus septem placuere colles 
Dicere carmen.” 


The hymn consists of only nineteen stanzas, with 
an introduction. It is regarded as the model festi¬ 
val song of the Roman poets, and you will wish to 
study it some day when you come to understand 
Latin. 

The song was to be given on the banks of the 
Tiber and in the Temple of Apollo by soloists and 
choruses of youths and maidens. We must give 
you a view of the musical as well as the literary 
part of this remarkable composition. 


Chap. XXL 


ROME'S CELEBRATION. 


213 


The Poet to the People. 

Introduction. 

Stand off, ye vulgar, nor profane 

With bold, unhallowed sounds the festal scene ; 

In hymns inspired by truth divine, 

I, priest of the melodious Nine, 

To youths and virgins sing in mystic strain. 


Sings to the Chorus. 

Now is the solemn hour preferred 
When by the Sibyl’s dread command 
Of spotless maids a chosen train, 

Of spotless youths a chosen band, 

To all our guardian gods uplift the hallowed strain. 

Last Chorus. 

Lo, we the chosen, youthful choir, 

Taught with harmonious voice to raise 
Apollo’s and Diana’s praise, 

In.full ilnd certain hope retire 

That the assembled gods, the sovereign Jove, 

The pious vows, these choral hymns, approve. 

During the time of the Republic these century 
games, which were of Etruscan origin, were called 
Ludi Terentini, from Terentum a volcanic cleft 
in the Campus Martius, where certain dark rites 
were performed, but during the Empire they were 
called Ludi Sceculares. 

The celebration of the games by Augustus took 
place in summer, and we can imagine nothing 
more picturesque than the festival on the banks 
of the Tiber. The next celebration occurred under 
the reign of Claudius, a.d. 47; the next under 
Domitian, a.d. 87, and the last under Philippus, or 


214 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XXI. 


Philip the Arabian, a.d. 247, as was believed just 
one thousand years from the founding of the city. 
The Empire was about to be divided, and the fes¬ 
tival under an alien emperor may be held to be 
the expiring flame of ancient Roman glory. They 
were afterwards revived in the Middle Ages as 
Jubilees of the Popes, instituted by Boniface 
VIII. in 1300. 

Let us, in fancy, go to the Tiber in the morning 
of the first day of the festival under Philip. The 
sky is a flood of light; the old Tiber is rolling in 
beauty from the city to the sea. The scene of the 
games is to be near the Terentum on the Campus 
Martius. 

In the streets of Rome all is life. The ancient 
gates are open, and out of them come the heralds. 

“ Come and celebrate a festival that no man ever 
before saw, and that no man will ever see again! ” 

“ Io ! Triumphe ! ” respond the people. The word 
“ Io ! ” rings on the air. 

Rome is moving to the Tiber, and her millions 
are darkening the hills overlooking the scene of 
the sacred rites and the games. On one hand 
gleam the mountains, and afar shines the sea¬ 
flowing stream. 

Everywhere go the heralds, proclaiming the sub¬ 
lime ends of sadness and joy — “the festival that 
no man ever saw nor ever will see again. ” 

The priests and citizens have purified them¬ 
selves for the festival. For days purifying torches 
have been burning on the Capitol Hill and in the 
Palatine. The air has smoked with bitumen. 
The temple of Diana on the Aventine has been 
giving festival wheat, barley, and beans to the 
people. 



TEMPLE OF MARS 















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Chap. XXI. 


ROME’S CELEBRATION. 


215 


It is summer. The great procession is laden 
with wheat and flowers, and led by the standards 
of Rome. The games are to be enacted in the 
Field of Mars, that recall the days of ^Fneas and 
the Roman kings. The Campus is to reproduce 
the Rome of old. 

The Campus Martius is a plain without the walls 
of the city. Here Roman youths were accustomed 
to perform their gymnastic exercises. Public as¬ 
semblies and grand state or imperial receptions used 
to be held here, and here were the funeral pyres. 
The land is said to have belonged to Tarquin and 
was dedicated to Mars. 

After the games of the day, Roman youths bathed 
in the Tiber before returning to the city. The 
Campus Martius, once the meadows of the Tiber, 
became a populous part of Rome. 

The games of the first day are mingled with sac¬ 
rifices to Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Minerva, Venus, 
Apollo, Mercury, Ceres, Vulcan, Mars, Diana, 
Vesta, Hercules, Latona, the Parcse (the Fates), 
and to Dis and Proserpina. They were begun on 
the second hour of the night, the Terentum being 
a splendor .of torches and fires. The emperor him¬ 
self had sacrificed three rams on three altars at the 
Terentum near the Tiber. 

On the second day the noble matrons of Rome 
assembled at the capitol and sung hymns to the 
gods. 

The third day crowned the festival. The grand 
hymn to the gods was sung by youths and maidens 
of great beauty, whose parents were yet living. It 
was this day that gave voice to Horace’s immortal 
ode, which was sung by three times nine young 
voices in the temple of Apollo. 


216 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XXI. 


The oratorio in the temple began with an in¬ 
troductory address to the people. The chorus 
answered — 

“ Phoebus and Diana hear our prayers.'' 1 

It then rehearsed the commands of the Sibyl, and 
grandly addressed the Sun : — 

“ 0 Sun, ever changing and ever the same, let Rome be 
unchanging as thy eternal light! ” 

There were two choruses, one of boys and one of 
girls. These appealed to the Fates, Diana, and 
Apollo: — 

“ Ye Destinies {Fates'), fulfil the happy oracles, and to the 
past add future blessings; fertility to the flocks and herds, 
seasonable rain and vital air. 

“ Apollo, hear us hoys ! 

Diana, hear us girls ! ” 

The temple of Apollo on the Palatine was white, 
golden, and glorious with the marble forms of 
heroes. In it the Sibylline Books were kept. Here 
dwelt the sacred keepers of the books — quindecim- 
viri. The Cumsean Sibyl is fabled to have been 
seven hundred years old when iEneas came into 
Italy. Apollo, in whose beautiful temple her praise 
was now sung, became enamoured of her, in the far 
period of the twilight of the gods, and offered to 
give her whatever gift she should ask. She asked 
to live as many years as the grains of sand she 
could hold in her hand. But she did not ask that 
youth and beauty might continue. So she grew 
withered and old in appearance, solitary and un¬ 
sightly. When her sands of life were completed, 



TEMPLE OF APOLLO 










































































































































































































































































































- 










































































































































































. . 


































































































Chap. XXI. 


ROME'S CELEBRATION. 


217 


she was to fall away and become a voice. She 
seems to have had thirteen hundred grains of sand, 
as she was fated to live six hundred years after her 
interview with iEneas. 

The choral song ended with an assurance of bless¬ 
ing to those who guarded Sibylline oracles in the 
temple: — 

“ Diana listens to the quindecimviri, and the choruses of 
the hoys and girls, and all the gods hear and vouchsafe their 
blessings ! ” 


All of the theatres, temples, and public places 
were full of amusements, spectacles, and games. 
The nights were revels. There was a stupendous 
place of amusement near 
the Aventine Hill called 
the Circus Maximus. It 
was begun by Tarquinius 
•Priscus, and was enlarged 
and adorned as Pome 
grew. It was three stadia 
or 2187^ feet long. Ac¬ 
cording to Pliny it would 
hold two hundred and fifty 
thousand persons. Its cir¬ 
cumference was a mile. A canal flowed into it, and 
sometimes filled the arena with water for naval 
spectacles. It was almost a thousand years old, 
and here resounded the “ Ios ” for the Pome of a 
thousand years. 

Processions swept the streets; the Roman eagles 
blazed in the sun, as they passed the statues of the 
great crowned with laurel. The people passed to 
and fro bearing grain; trumpets rang through the 
skies, and echoed from the walls of the temples. 



Circus Maximus. 






218 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XXI. 


But who is this that amid the pomp and splen¬ 
dor, the sound of trumpets, and floral processions, 
comes riding up the Sacred Way in a glittering car, 
hailed like a god ? 

It is Philip the Arabian, a cunning alien who 
has been elected by the army; a military em¬ 
peror, who has gained the purple by arts and in¬ 
trigues and murder, and who is to lose his own 
power in the manner that it was obtained. 

The secular games were celebrated traditionally 
once in a generation, or periods of one hundred to 
ten times eleven years, but Rome held a yearly 
festival in December, near the close of the month, 
which lasted at first one day, then three, then seven. 
It was called the Saturnalia. 

Saturnus, who was identified by the ancients 
with the Greek Cronos or Time, was a son of the 
Earth and Heaven, or Coelus and Terra. Like the 
Earth, he is said to have devoured his own chil¬ 
dren, but his wife Rhea concealed the infants 
Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, and gave him stones 
in a bag to eat, calling them her new-born sons. 

Saturn established a kingdom in Italy, taught 
the people agriculture and the liberal arts, and in¬ 
stituted the Golden Age. This Golden Age was 
much like the scenes described in Virgil’s Pollio. 
Everything was such as a kindly imagination would 
picture it; it was a kind of poet’s world. When 
he departed he went to rule over the Isles of the 
Blessed at the ends of the earth, according to 
Hesiod, and Pindar pictures these blissful abodes. 
In Saturn we find personified Time, the Earth, and 
the Earthly Paradise. He is commonly represented 
with a scythe in his hand, old, bent, with flowing 
locks. 


rw- --- 1 '■ ' V "ry> - WBW 



THE CIRCUS MAXIMUS. 













Chap. XXI. 


ROME’S CELEBRATION. 


219 


His ancient temple in Eome was at the foot of 
the Capitoline Hill. Here his festival was cele¬ 
brated, and this feast under the poetic Augustus 
was made so picturesque that out of it by several 
indirections came the modern festivities of the 
Christmas season. 

During the Saturnalia, which celebrated the 
Golden Age gone, and predicted a Golden Age to 
come, all was mirth and festivity. 

Friends made presents to each other. 

The schools were closed. 

Dolls were exchanged among children. 

The Senate did not meet. 

No war could be proclaimed. 

Slaves were free, and on an equality with their 
masters, who sometimes served them, and who 
permitted all kiuds of jovial sociability among 
them. 

No criminal was executed. 

The temples were hung with green, and adorned 
with the products of nature. 

Festal songs were sung. 

The night was made bright by torches. 

It was predicted that the reign of Saturn would 
return again, and that then all injustice would 
cease, and all people be equal and happy. 

We may easily imagine the glory of the Capito¬ 
line Hill during the days and nights of the Saturna¬ 
lia, in the time of Augustus and Claudius. Between 
the thronging Forum and the great temples and 
palaces that shine in the air, stood the ancient 
shrine of Saturn. Thence were brought the offer¬ 
ings amid choral songs and the amenities of peace. 
Here it was proclaimed that the Fates would one 


220 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XXI. 


day pronounce a universal Saturnalia, and say to 
their spindles: — 

“ Thus go on forever.” 

It was a beautiful hope, that found a greater ex¬ 
pression in the Gospel that came from the Divine 
Teacher of Galilee. 



Sacrifice. 







TEMPLE OF PEACE (RESTORATION). 


























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Chap. XXII. 


POPULAR H TORIES. 


221 


CHAPTER XXII. 

The Popular Stories of Rome. 

I N the year 274 a^d., a very romantic and poetic 
event happened in Rome, which is known as the 
Triumph of Aurelian. An Eastern monarch named 
Sapor had defeated the Roman emperor Valerian in 
260, in a terrible battle at Edessa, and in contempt 
of Rome, he made Valerian his horse-block, on 
which to mount his war-steed, stepping first on the 
back of his imperial captive, and then vaulting into 
the saddle. When the humiliated emperor died, 
Sapor caused his body to be stuffed, and to be dyed 
purple and hung up as a curiosity. 

A Syrian chief named Odenathus, who had a very 
beautiful and ambitious wife known in history as 
Zenobia, defeated Sapor,‘who had humiliated Rome, 
and rebuilt a city called Palmyra, amid an oasis in 
the great desert between Palestine and Assyria. 
Odenathus was named Augustus by Gallienus, who 
thus made him his colleague. His nephew or 
cousin murdered him about 266 not without the 
connivance of Zenobia who, after his death, assumed 
the title of Empress. She filled her city of palm- 
trees with glittering domes and Greek art, and was 
ambitious to conquer the East. Zenobia was a stu¬ 
dent of Greek philosophy, and is represented as 
saying in effect: “ Longinus is right; I would that 
the world were mine; I feel within the will and 
power to bless it were.it so.” 


222 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XXII. 


Aurelian, an army-made emperor, followed Vale¬ 
rian, and he resolved to check the new power that 
was rising in the East amid the desert climes of 
Palmyra. He marched against the Palmyrenians, 
defeated them, razed their city, and brought the 
beautiful Zenobia a captive to Rome. 

The triumphal procession of Aurelian exceeded 
as a spectacle anything that had ever happened in 
Rome. It was led by twenty elephants, four royal 
tigers, and animals representing all the countries of 
the conquests of Rome; and sixteen hundred gladi¬ 
ators. After this strange escort, moved the cars of 
the spoils of Asia, one or more of which was loaded 
with crowns of gold. Embassadors from far coun¬ 
tries in vice-royal robes followed the spoil, and 
after them came the captives of the many wars of 
Aurelian and his commanders. 

But the principal figure of this golden procession 
was Zenobia. She was led by a slave, and walked 
in fetters of gold, under an almost crushing weight 
of jewels. Her own chariot, in which she herself 
had dreamed of entering Rome in triumph, came 
after her, empty. 

The triumphal car of Aurelian had been the mag¬ 
nificent treasure of a Gothic king. It was a moving 
throne, and on it sat one of the proudest conquerors 
the world ever saw. 

Zenobia and her sons w^ere given a beautiful 
estate at Tivoli, and here the former queen of 
Palmyra lived a pure and worthy life, after the 
Hebrew faith, and her history became one of the 
picturesque and dramatic stories of the world. 

The story of Zenobia, Caractacus, of Cleopatra, of 
Epponina, who hid her condemned husband for many 
years in a cave, are among the popular romances of 





































































Chap. XXII. 


POPULAR STORIES. 


223 


Koine. Such stories were kept before the people 
in works of art, rather than in literature. The 
most curious and pleasing stories and traditions of 
Greece and Kome were written out by dramatists, 
and performed on the stage, and afterwards told 



Zenobia. 


by the people at their firesides and in the public 
places, gardens, and villas. So the comedians be¬ 
came the source of many popular stories. 

The household stories of Kome were often asso¬ 
ciated with fables of the Lares, or inferior deities 
of human origin who were supposed to preside over 
the destinies of families. There were many orders 





224 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chat. XXII. 


of the Lares. The I/ares Familiares, who presided 
over homes; the Lares Hurdles, who guarded the 
country; and the Lares Viales, the divinities of 
the roads. The Lares were often united in stories 
with the Penates, a higher order of divinities of 



A Roman Marriage. 

celestial origin. Hence the household was some¬ 
times spoken of as the shrine of the Lares and 
Penates. 

The Lares were the guardians of the home. 
They guarded children, and protected the aged and 
infirm. The souls of wicked people sometimes 
appeared; but these household spectres could be 


















































COLUMN OF MARCUS AURELIUS, 
(FORMERLY CALLED THE COLUMN OF ANTONINUS) 















Chap. XXII. 


POPULAR STORIES. 


225 


lived down. Thus, if the spirit of a man appeared 
as a terrible demon, he could do no harm to the 
good; and the family could cause him to shrink in 
size and to disappear, by living holy lives, doing 
good deeds, and thinking holy thoughts. Such 
was the beautiful fable. 

The belief that the souls of fathers and grand¬ 
fathers became Lares caused the bodies of the dead, 
at one period of Eome, to be buried, within the 
house. The custom was forbidden by the laws of 
the Laws of the Twelve Tables. 

The Lares not only protected the weak members 
of the family, but interceded with the powerful 
gods for such as needed help. 

The altar of the Lares was the hearth. The 
offerings to them were the firstlings of flocks, the 
first fruits of seasons, and outpourings of wine. 

At the family feasts, the repasts were begun by 
an offering to the Lares. The wedding processions 
began in the same way, and the beginnings of new 
homes. Soldiers returning from war hung up their 
arms under the protection of the Lares, and freed 
slaves began their new lives by dedicating to these 
genii or home spirits their fetters. 

The grand houses of ancient Eome had a Lara- 
rium, a room or chapel dedicated to the worship 
of the Lares. They often had two Lararia, — one 
large, and another small. 

The festival of the Lares followed the Saturnalia, 
in early winter. The occasion was gay and joyful, 
a time of household merriments. 

When death occurred in the family, a solemn 
and costly sacrifice was made to the Lares , and the 
soul of the departed member was supposed to have 
joined the household gods. 


226 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XXII. 


The Pot of Gold. 

Two of the pleasant and popular writers of 
comedy in Rome were the poets Plautus and Ter¬ 
ence. They adapted many of the clever tales of 
Athens to entertainment of the Roman public, and 
so became popular story-tellers. 

The Greek dramatic poet Menander, the sup¬ 
posed author of the Pauline text, “ Evil communi¬ 
cations corrupt good morals,” born in Athens, 342 
b.c., was the source of a number of stories that the 
comic poets made popular in Rome. 

Menander in comedy was the Shakespeare of 
Greece, or rather, Shakespeare as a comedian was 
the Menander of the English tongue. It was said 
of the Greek poet, — 

“ 0 Life and 0 Menander, speak and say 
Which copied which? or nature or the play? ” 

He was a philosopher as well as a writer of tragedy 
and comedy. His views were, — 

“ The saw of all philosophy is this: — 

Thou art a man ; than whom there lives no creature 
More liable to sudden rise and fall.” 

The comedies of Menander became the studies 
of Roman dramatic wits, and the few quotations 
which have been preserved to us illustrating the 
serious thoughts that they contained are more 
precious than dust of gold. Besides the passage 
quoted by St. Paul, we have, — 

“ The workman is greater than his work,” 
and, — 

“ He is well cleansed that hath his conscience clean.” 

Plautus began his career as a comic poet in 224 
b.c. Some of his best dramatic stories or comedies 


Chap. XXII. 


POPULAR STORIES. 


227 


now known are The Three Silver Pieces, The Brag¬ 
gadocio, The Haunted House, Amphitryon. 

Terence was a child when Plautus died, but fol¬ 
lowed him as popular story-teller, whose tales were 
both written and acted. He is said to have trans¬ 
lated one hundred of the comedies of Menander. 
His principal stories are The Maid of Andros, The 
Motlier-in-Law, The Self-Tormentor, The Brothers, 
and Phormio. The popular comedies of both Plau¬ 
tus and Terence are still sometimes acted by Latin 
classes in English schools. 

One of these stories will furnish an illustration 
of the taste of the Roman people. It is by Plautus, 
and was a favorite fireside drollery. It was known 
in Rome as the Aulularia. 

As we have told you, the old Roman homes had 
their house spirits, or Lar. The house spirit, or 
hearth spirit, or Lar Familiaris, was a kind of 
Robin Goodfellow, and was supposed to be a dimin¬ 
utive form of some true-hearted ancestor who could 
not forget his old fireside. 

There was once a good grandfather who, wishing 
to provide against any misfortune that might come 
to any of his posterity, buried under his hearth a 
pot of gold, and told the secret only to the Lar or 
house spirit. 

“ Guard it well,” he said to the Lar, “ and only 
let the secret be known when it will save the 
family name from poverty or disgrace.” The Lar 
promised, and the old man died. 

The old man’s heir was a miser. He saved his 
money, and became so penurious that he grudged 
to make sacrifices to the Lar at the Saturnalias. 
The Lar saw no reason for discovering the pot of 
gold to him. 


228 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XXII. 


The old man’s grandson, Euclio, was more 
miserly than his father. He neglected the Lar, 
and stinted his own hearth, and the house spirit 
had no desire of need to discover the pot of gold 
to him. 

But Euclio had a lovely little daughter, with a 
heart winning sympathy and generosity. She 
loved the neglected hearth spirit, and brought to 
the hearth offerings of incense, wine, and flowers. 
She decorated his little altar, and the Lar came to 
love her, and to study what he could do to make 
her fortunate and happy. 

She was very pretty as well as good, and the 
family began to talk of a husband for her. 

“ She shall marry Lyconides, a nephew of our 
neighbor Megadorus,” said the family Lar, or 
guardian. “But as the family might object to the 
young man at first, I will let the uncle Megadorus 
court her first, and so prepare the way for the 
young man.” * 

And the Lar was very happy in thus providing a 
way to make the young girl who had been so good 
to him the possessor of a young and handsome 
husband, and he dreamed of the delightful days 
they would all spend one day by the old ancestral 
hearth. 

But the miser Euclio had not become rich by his 
saving habits; and when he found old Megadorus 
and his handsome young nephew interested in his 
beautiful daughter, he knew not how to provide 
for her a marriage dowry. 

The Lar now thought that his opportunity had 
come. He took the girl’s father to the hearth, and 
said to him : — 

“There is your daughter’s dowry. There, for 


Chap. XXII. 


POPULAR STORIES. 


229 


two generations, a pot of gold has been waiting for 
her.” 

But Euclio loved money more than the happi¬ 
ness of his lovely daughter; and he said in his 
heart, “ I will keep the pot of gold hidden for 
myself.” 

But the pot of gold haunted him. What if it 
were to be discovered and stolen ? He could think 
of nothing else, day or night. He did not dare to 
go away from home, or to lose sight of the hearth 
under which the treasure was concealed. The poor 
little Lar was very unhappy now. He had failed 
to fulfil the directions given him by the prudent 
old grandfather, and had merely given gold to a 
miser to drive him mad. 

One day old Megadorus came to ask the hand of 
his daughter. 

“ He surely must have heard of the pot of gold,” 
he said to himself. “He only wants her for the 
money, and he shall not have it.” 

His terrors now grew. He kept his housekeeper 
in a continual fright. He suspected every one of 
being a thief, and so he sat with his eyes fixed on 
his hearth, where no longer any offerings were 
made to the poor Lar. 

But Euclio reconsiders Megadorus’s request for 
the hand of his daughter. 

“ You may have her,” he said, “ but I am very 
poor, and can give her no dowry.” 

“I will take her without a dowry,” said the 
supposed lover, knowing that he was seeking for 
his nephew a girl whose heart was a dowry in 
itself. 

And he added, “ I will send to your house cooks 
for the wedding feast.” 


230 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. Chap. XXII. 


Cooks ! The old miser was filled with terror. 
Cooks to tend the fire on the hearth of the pot of 
gold! 

They came. 

“ Bring me a larger pot,” said one to another. 

A larger pot ? The cook must have a hidden 
meaning. The old man rushed madly to the fire, 
with staring eyes. 

One day a cockerel came into the open door, and 
began to scratch the floor and approach the hearth. 

“He knows the secret,” said the old man, and 
struck off the poor bird’s head. 

What was he to do ? 

He at last dug up the treasure, and hid it under 
his cloak; and now his condition was more perilous 
than before. He could not live long thus in such 
a wakeful and excited state, so he carried the pot 
of gold to the Temple of Faith, and gave it to the 
goddess to keep. 

But he found that a slave of Megadorus had 
seen him go to the temple. This drove him mad 
again, and he regained the treasure and buried it 
in a sacred grove. 

But the slave of Megadorus has been watching 
him constantly, and follows him, and hides in a 
tree, and sees him bury the treasure ; and when the 
old miser goes away, he digs it up and steals it. 

The scene which follows on the miser’s dis¬ 
covery that the pot of gold has been stolen was 
popular on the old Roman stage. Moliere, the 
great French writer of comedy, borrowed it, and 
the following translation of a translation will pre¬ 
sent the old man’s surprise, terror, and despair: — 

“Euclio (solus). —I’m ruined! dead! murdered! 
— Where shall I run ? Where shall I not run to ? 


Chap. XXII. 


POPULAR STORIES. 


231 


Stop him there, stop him! — Stop whom ? Who’s 
to stop him ? ( Striking his forehead in despair.) 

I can’t tell — I can see nothing — I’m going blind. 
Where I’m going, or where I am, or who I am, I 
cannot for my life be sure of ! (Wringing his hands, 
and appealing to the audience.) Oh pray — I be¬ 
seech you, help me ! I implore you, do ! Show 
me the man that stole it! Ah! people put on 
respectable clothes, and sit there as if. they were 
all honest! (Addressing a spectator in the front 
seats.) What did you say, sir ? I can believe you, 
I’m sure — I can see from your looks you’re an 
honest man. (Looking round on them all.) What 
is it ? Why do you all laugh ? Ah, I know you 
all! There are thieves here, I know, in plenty ! 
Eh ! have none of them got it ? I’m a dead man ! 
Tell me, then, who’s got it ? — You don’t know ? 
Oh, wretch, wretch that I am ! utterly lost and 
ruined! Never was man in such miserable plight. 
Oh, what groans, what horrible anguish this day 
has brought me ! Poverty and hunger! I’m the 
most unhappy man on earth. For what use is life 
to me, when I have lost all my gold ? And I kept 
it so carefully ! — Pinched myself, starved myself, 
denied myself in everything ! And now others are 
making merry over it, — mocking at my loss and 
my misery ! I cannot bear it! ” 

In the midst of the miser’s terror, there comes 
to him handsome young Lyconides, the nephew 
whom the house spirit designed that the lovely 
daughter should marry. He has come to con¬ 
fess that his uncle has been courting the girl for 
him. 

“ I have stolen — ” he said. 

“ Stolen ? Stolen ? Then you are the thief! — ” 


232 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XXII. 


“ I have stolen your daughter’s affections — ” 

Here the old man goes mad again. He knows 
nothing about his daughter’s affections, but only 
the lost pot of gold. 

The old Latin word olla means “ pot,” and the 
word is the ancient form of ilia, “she.” So, when¬ 
ever the young suitor speaks of olla, the miser 
thinks that he means the stolen pot of gold, one 
amusing scene follows another, and the story grows 
intense in interest and excitement, ending in a 
perfectly delightful way. 

“ I have stolen your daughter’s affections,” said 
Lyconides. “ I have not stolen your money, but I 
will now go in search of the thief of the pot of 
gold. If I find him, you will give me your daugh¬ 
ter’s hand.” 

The old miser’s face is happy, and happy also is 
the heart of the Lar, the house spirit. The young 
lover found the slave of his uncle and the pot of 
gold, and the old miser was more happy than in 
all his life, and gave his daughter to Lyconides, 
and ceased to be a miser any more. 

“Here is the pot of gold,” he said; “it shall 
be your marriage dowry.” 

The old uncle was delighted, the miser’s daughter 
was supremely happy, and the Lar could dance 
again on the hearth. 

' The young couple had a wedding overflowing 
with hospitality, and the house spirit presided over 
a loving and charming home, and found his altar 
loaded with gifts on family days, holidays, and the 
Saturnalia. 

Every event in it is arranged to end happily. 
And indeed it may almost be claimed as a Christ¬ 
mas story, for the festival of Christmas followed 


Chap. XXII. 


POPULAR STORIES. 


233 


the decline of the Saturnalia, and the latter as a 
picture of the Golden Age anticipated the Gospel 
of the Nativity like a bow of promise and cloud. 

Phormio. 

A very curious old Roman fireside story which 
Terence learned in the Greek school of dramatic 
art, and made familiar by a play, and which is yet 
played in the English Westminster Latin classes, 
is “Phormio/’ The whole story is long and in¬ 
volved, but the popular characters in it and part of 
it are very simple. Phormio is an overgrown youth, 
selfish and cunning, having an enormous appetite. 
He eats everything tempting that he can find and 
creates a want in the families he visits. 

A certain man named Demipho has a son named 
Antipho. Demipho goes away from home on a 
long journey, and while he has gone his son be¬ 
comes pleased with a beautiful Cinderella, who is 
so poor as to go about with bare feet and shabby 
dress, and he wishes to marry her. Phormio, the 
merry glutton, for the sake of good dinners, brings 
about the marriage in a seemingly legal way. But 
the newly married pair greatly dread the home¬ 
coming of Demipho. 

When the latter comes home, the miserable young 
couple and their friends shift the blame of the mar¬ 
riage on fat Phormio, and the indignant father 
takes measures to imprison the dinner-loving para¬ 
site. The scene which follows abounds in wit, as 
Phormio is master of the situation, as by Roman 
law a prosecutor must pay for his prisoner’s food. 

“It is a tough morsel ,” said Phormio, “but I’ll 
make a shift to bolt it,” using the language of the 


234 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XXII. 


table, iii view of the threatened punishment. His 
summing up of the situation is very amusing, and 
well illustrates the humor of these old Roman 
comedians. He tells his friends that he will not 
be imprisoned. 

Phormio. Because, my friend, no fowler spreads his net 
For hawk or kite, or such-like birds of prey; 

’T is for the innocent flock, who do no harm ; 

They are fat morsels, full of juice and flavor, 

Well worth the catching. Men wbo’ve aught to lose, 

Such are in danger from the law ; for me— 

They know I’ve nothing. “Nay, but then,” you’ll say, 

“ They’ll clap you up in jail.” Oh ! will they ? Ah ! 

(Laughing and patting himself.) They’d have to keep me 
— and they know my appetite. 

No — they’re too wise, and not so self-denying, 

As to return me so much good for evil. 

Phormio in all of his troubles usually manages 
to escape with a good dinner. He thus became a 
popular character for a fireside tale. 

The boys and girls of Rome had no picture-books 
like those of to-day, no pictorial histories. But in 
Rome all was picture. The very air was full of 
pictures. Columns filled with sculptures, and tri¬ 
umphal arches covered with reliefs and inscriptions, 
arose like picture-books in stone and marble in 
every public place, and the sculptor’s art then held 
the place of the modern arts of the pencil and 
printing. Everywhere were statues and sculptured 
emblems. The works of the Greek and Roman 
sculptors have been the wonder of all succeeding 
ages. 

The Column of Trajan and the Column of Au¬ 
relius, with their high statues and pictured histories, 
were among the most beautiful monuments on 




3 


THE ARCH OF TITUS, ERECTED TO COMMEMORATE THE DEFEAT OF THE JEWS 









































































































































































































































































Chap. XXII. 


POPULAR STORIES. 


235 



Temple of Concord. 


which the sun has ever shone. The entablature of 
the Temple of Concord was a history that every 
traveller must read, and that interpreted the past 
in figures and forms of 
wonderful beauty. The 
Appian Way, with its 
tombs and monuments, 
was one long history les¬ 
son from the walls of the 
city to the sea. 

Take for examination 
the Arch of Titus, which 
is at the foot of the Pala¬ 
tine. Seventeen hundred 
years have passed since 
Domitian dedicated this arch to the memory of his 
brother. Its very materials were precious, roseate 
and white. Its idea was a poem, for here figures 
of Victory had wings. It was simple as well as 
great. 

Amid the vaulting arch, with its rosettes, the 
mouldings, the bas-reliefs, the arabesques, what 
may we read ? We see the conqueror in the 
“ middle of his troops standing on his chariot, 
holding in one hand a palm, and in the other a 
sceptre, and crowned by victory.” Here in bas- 
relief he passes like a Jupiter Triumphans amid 
the spoils of the nations. Here are the captured 
Jewish tables of shew-bread, the Hebrew trumpets 
of jubilee, the golden candlesticks of Solomon. 
Here the chief of the Israelites, Simon, son of 
Gioras, marches barefooted behind the sacred tables. 

Titus was the pride of the Roman heart, and 
received the title of the “ Delight of Mankind.” 
Every Roman passed under the Arch of Titus, and 












236 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XXII. 


felt a feeling of elation at the glory it revealed; 
every Jew looked upon it with a silent woe, and 
an attitude of humiliation. 

The Romans regarded the young son of Ves¬ 
pasian much as the world now looks upon Bayard. 
He reigned, as we said, but a little more than two 
years, but these two years, in the Roman eyes, 
were the faultless years of the empire. He was 
universally loved. He was but thirty when he con¬ 
ducted the siege of Jerusalem. The army would 
make him emperor before his time, which caused 
him to fall under suspicion of disloyalty to Ves¬ 
pasian. As soon as he knew of this suspicion, 
he hurried back to Rome, and rushed into his 
father’s presence, saying, “I have come, father, as 
a loyal son should come ! ” 

He said that no one with a right heart should 
ever leave the presence of an emperor disappointed. 
“If I cannot recall some good that I have done, 
under every new sun, I feel that I have lost a 
day,” he once said, which has been expressed : — 

“ Count that day lost whose low descending sun 
Views from thy hand no worthy action done.” 

When the office of the Sovereign Pontiff, or 
Pontiff Maximus, was offered him, he said: — 

“I accept it, for it will keep my hands from 
shedding blood.” 

But the life that to the Romans represented 
honor and chivalry stood for horror, injustice, and 
calamity in the eyes of the unhappy children of 
Israel, of whom some seventy thousand once lived 
in Rome. The arch was stoned in the night, by the 
helpless captives and their miserable descendants. 


Chap. XXII. 


POPULAR STORIES. 


237 


More than seventeen hundred years have passed. 
Come with me to modern Home. There follows 
us a Hebrew beggar. We pass along, and stand 
near the arch, and, counting the coins we are about 
to offer him, pass under the arch. 

We stop and look behind. Where is the Jew? 
He is not following. He has stopped on the other 
side of the pile of sculpture. 

“ Here, Mordecai,” and we extend our coins. 

He bends his head, and shakes his rags, then 
lifts his eyes over his beak-like nose. 

“Not under the Arch of Titus.” No Jew ever 
passes there who loves the traditions of his race. 
And a beggar may be a hero. 



Trajan in a Chariot Drawn by Ten Horses. 




238 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. Chap. XXIII. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

The Triumph of Christianity by the Fall of Heathen Rome. 

D IOCLES, a Dalmatian soldier, was hailed as 
emperor by the legions of Rome, and under 
the name of Diocletianus or Diocletian began to 
reign like an Oriental king. He broke the power 
of the Praetorian Guards and refused to enter Rome 
lest he should thereby fall under the authority of 
the Senate. The liberties of Rome wholly disap- 



Money of Diocletian; struck after his Abdication. 


peared under Diocletian, whose government lasted 
from 284 to 305. 

He divided the Empire into two parts and made 
a soldier of low birth but great ability and vigor 
named Maximian emperor of the West. 

Each of these emperors chose his successor. Dio¬ 
cletian chose his son-in-law Galerius, and Maximian, 
Constantius Chlorus, the commander of Britain, 
Gaul, and Spain. Both of these emperors resigned 



Chap. XXIII. TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY. 


239 


their power to their chosen successors in the prime 
of life, though Maximian again returned to political 
influence on the death of Galerius. Constantine 
after many struggles became emperor of Rome and 
of the world. 

The emperors immediately preceding Constantine 



Constantine. 


had been persecutors of the Christian faith. But 
the Christians had grown in numbers and in in¬ 
fluence and had become a powerful organization 
in Rome.'* The principles of the Stoics had pre- 




240 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. 


Chap. XXIII. 


pared the way for the Church that proclaimed the 
fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, the 
Gospel of Christ, and the spiritual birth of con¬ 
scious revelation and witness to the truth. Self- 
denial had brought the Christians power, and Chris¬ 
tianity was soon to shatter the old superstitions, and 
in the person of Constantine to occupy the throne 
of the world. 

Near the end of Nero’s reign there was born a 
man of unknown family named Epictetus, who be¬ 
came a slave to one of the body-guard of the 
emperor. He had a noble soul and lived for the 
highest things of life and despised pain. It is 
related of him that once when his cruel master 
twisted his leg as a punishment he said, “ You will 
break it.” The limb was presently broken, and 
Epictetus only said, “As I told you.” He was lame 
for life. He obtained his freedom, became a Stoic, 
and was obliged to leave Rome in the persecutions 
of the Stoic philosophers in Domitian’s reign. He 
made his home in Nicopolis in Epirus. Here he 
lived in the practice of every virtue, studied and 
wrote, and influenced for good his own times and 
enriched the thought of the world. 

His home in Epirus was a small hut whose only 
furniture was a bed and a lamp. He lived at first 
alone, but after a time adopted a lost child as his 
companion. 

The leading principle of the philosophy of Epic¬ 
tetus was “Bear and forbear,” or “Suffer and 
abstain,” or that in changing the evil purpose of 
a man you gained a new man to honor and truth, 
and that to forgive was to conquer and leave an 
enemy in the conquest. His lectures were very 
famous and were as pure in style as they were 


Chap. XXIII. TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY. 


241 


lofty in thought and broad in aim and view. His 
discourses were taken down by one of his pupils 
and were published after his death. 

A beautiful story is told of his solitary lamp that 
had been the companion of his meditations. It 
went out at his death, but the wisest and worthiest 
men sought to possess it, and it was purchased at a 
great price. The light of his pure teachings has 
never gone out. 

You may like to see a specimen of his teaching. 
We will give it to you in a single anecdote, which 
you can easily remember. 

Vespasian had become offended with Helvidius 
for his honor and sincerity and forbade him to 
enter the Senate. Epictetus thus pictures the scene 
that followed: — 

“ Helvidius. You can expel me from the Senate, 
but while I am a member I must attend its meet¬ 
ings. 

“ Vespasian . Attend, then, and be silent. 

“ Helvidius . Do not then ask me for my opinion. 

“Vespasian. But I am bound to ask you. 

“Helvidius . Then I am bound to say what seems 
to me right. 

“Vespasian. If you say it, I will kill you. 

“Helvidius. Have I ever claimed to be immortal ? 
Do your part, and I will do mine. Your part is to 
kill; mine to die without fear. Yours might be to 
send me into exile; it would be mine to go with a 
heart unmoved.” 

The old Boman schoolmasters were generally 
known as grammarians and rhetoricians. The term 
“grammarian” during the Empire meant one versed 
in the languages, and was not restricted as now to 
one who masters the rules of composition ; and the 


242 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. Chap, XXIII. 


term “ rhetorician ” also had a larger meaning than 
now, as it included the art of eloquence. The most 
eminent grammarians and rhetoricians of Rome 
taught these arts, and their pupils were often public 
men. The office of the old Roman schoolmaster 
was a high one, and to show you the progress of 
learning we should speak of some of the eminent 
teachers here. 

The early teaching of the arts of language and 
eloquence met with opposition. By a law issued 
A.u.c. 592 or b.c. 161 it was decreed that “no phi¬ 
losophers or rhetoricians be suffered in Rome.” 

Later a Roman censor issued the following edict : 
“It is reported to us that certain persons have 
instituted a new kind of discipline ; that our youth 
resort to their schools; that they have assumed the 
title of Latin Rhetoricians; and that young men 
waste their time there for whole days together. 
Our ancestors have ordained what instruction it 
is fitting their children should receive, and what 
schools they should attend. These novelties, con¬ 
trary to the customs and instructions of our ances¬ 
tors, we neither approve nor do they appear to us 
good. Wherefore it appears to be our duty that 
we should notify our judgment both to those who 
keep such schools and those who are in the practice 
of frequenting them that they meet our disappro¬ 
bation.” 

Among the early teachers of Rome was Livius 
the Greek, and Ennius the poet. The Greek schools 
of art and eloquence at this time led the world, and 
Greek teachers were employed in many noble fam¬ 
ilies, as wealth brought the demand for learning. 

Crates of Mallus, a son of a Stoic philosopher, 
first introduced grammar at Rome as a study, and 


Chap. XXIII. TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY. 


243 


is given by Suetonius the place of the founder of 
the schools of grammarians. Suetonius gives us a 
view of this earliest school and its methods which 
is interesting. He says : — 

“ Crates of Mallus, then, was, in our opinion, the 
first who introduced the study of grammar at Koine. 
He was contemporary with Aristarchus, and having 
been sent by King Attalus as envoy to the Senate 
in the interval between the second and third Punic 
wars, soon after the death of Ennius, he had the 
misfortune to fall into an open sewer in the Pala¬ 
tine quarter of the city and broke his leg. After 
which, during the whole period of his embassy and 
convalescence, he gave frequent lectures, taking much 
pains to instruct his hearers, and he has left us an 
example well worthy of imitation. It was so far 
followed that poems hitherto little known, the 
works either of deceased friends or other approved 
writers, were brought to light, and being read and 
commented on, were explained to others. Thus, 
Caius Octavius Lampadio edited the Punic War of 
Ksevius, which having been written in one volume 
without any break in the manuscript, he divided 
into seven books. After that Quintus Vargonteius 
undertook the Annals of Ennius, which he read on 
certain fixed days to crowded audiences. 7 ’ 

The science of letters grew with the Empire and 
made its way from the city into the provinces. We 
hear of grammarians of Rome and “ teachers in 
foreign languages. 77 

The pupils who learned to write and speak cor¬ 
rectly were called literati. To be able to translate 
the Greek poets and repeat Latin poetry became a 
marked accomplishment. To grammar and rhetoric 
was added the art of disputation. 


244 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. Chap. XXIII. 


Among the greatest teachers of grammar in Rome 
were Aurelius Opilius, Saevius Nicanor, and Marcus 
Antonius Gnipho. Suetonius gives us a short but 
pleasing account of the last named teacher and his 
pupils. 

“Marcus Antonius Gnipho was a free-born native 
of Gaul, and was exposed in his infancy, and after¬ 
wards received his freedom from his foster-father; 
and, as some say, was educated at Alexandria, where 
Dionysius Scytobrachion was his fellow-pupil. This, 
however, I am not very ready to believe, as the 
times at which they flourished scarcely agree. He 
is said to have been a man of great genius, of sin¬ 
gular memory, well read in Greek as well as Latin, 
and of a most obliging and agreeable temper, who 
never haggled about remuneration, but generally 
left it to the liberality of his scholars. He first 
taught in the house of Julius Caesar when the latter 
was yet but a boy, and, afterwards, in his own pri¬ 
vate house. He gave instruction in rhetoric also, 
teaching the rules of eloquence every day, but 
declaiming only on festivals. It is said that some 
very celebrated men frequented his school, — and, 
among others, Marcus Cicero, during the time he 
held the praetorship. He wrote a number of works, 
although he did not live beyond his fiftieth year j 
but Atteius, the philologist, says that he left only 
two volumes, De Latino Sermone, and that the 
other works ascribed to him were composed by his 
disciples and were not his, although his name is 
sometimes to be found in them.” 

Valerius Cato, the poet, seems to have been the 
first teacher of the art of poetry. The account 
given of this grammarian by Suetonius is simple 
and touching. He seems to have been devoted to 


Chap. XXIII. TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY. 


245 


his art, but he lost the large property which he had 
gained by his exertions and was obliged to give up 
his magnificent villa at Tusculum. He died in the 
greatest penury. Suetonius gives us the following 
view of this seemingly witty man, about whom a 
great Roman writer wondered that one man could 
know so much and yet did not know how to pay 
his debts. 

“ Valerius Cato was, as some have informed us, 
the freedman of one Bursenus, a native of Gaul. 
He himself tells us, in his little work called In¬ 
dignation that he was born free, and being left an 
orphan, was exposed to be easily stripped of his 
patrimony during the license of Sylla’s administra¬ 
tions. He had a great number of distinguished 
pupils, and was highly esteemed as a preceptor 
suited to those who had a poetical turn, as appears 
from these short lines : — 

“ ‘ Cato grammaticus, Latina Siren, 

Qui solus legit ac facit poetas. ’ 

[“ Cato, the Latin Siren, grammar taught and verse 
To form the poet skilled, and poetry rehearse.”] 

Besides his Treatise on Grammar, he composed some 
poems, of which his Lydia and Diana are most ad¬ 
mired. Ticida mentions his Lydia. 

“ ‘Lydia, doctorum maxima cura liber.’ 

[“Lydia, a work to men of learning dear.”] 

Cinna thus notices the Diana: — 

“ ‘ Secula permaneat nostri Diana Catonis.’ 

[“ Immortal be our Cato’s song of Dian.”] 

He lived to extreme old age, but in the lowest state 
of penury, and almost in actual want, having retired 


246 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. Chap. XXIII. 


to a small cottage when he gave up his Tusculan 
villa to his creditors; as Bibaculus tells us : — 

“ ‘ Si quis forte mei domum Catonis, 

Depictas minio assulas, et illos 
Custodis vidit hortulos Priapi, 

Miratur, quibus ille disciplinis, 

Tantain sit sapientiam assecutus, 

Quem tres cauliculi et selibra farris ; 

Racemi duo, tegula sub una, 

Ad summam prope nutriant senectam. ’ 

[“ If, perchance, any one has seen the house of my Cato, 
with marble slabs of the richest hues, and his gardens worthy 
of having Priapus for their guardian, he may well wonder 
by what philosophy he has gained so much wisdom, that a daily 
allowance of three coleworts, lialf-a-pound of meal, and two 
bunches of grapes, under a narrow roof, should serve for his 
subsistence to extreme old age.”] 

And he says in another place: — 

“ ‘Catonis modo, Galle, Tusculanum 
Tota creditor urbe venditabat. 

Mirati sumus unicum magistrum, 

Summum grammaticum, optimum poetam, 

Omnes solvere posse qusestiones, 

Unum difficile expedire nomen. ’ ” 

[“We lately saw, my Gallus, Cato’s Tusculan villa ex¬ 
posed to public sale by his creditors ; and wondered that 
such an unrivalled master of the schools, most eminent 
grammarian, and accomplished poet, could solve all proposi¬ 
tions and yet found one question too difficult, — how to pay 
his debts .”] 

The same question has been often asked concern¬ 
ing scholars, poets, and literary men in later times 
of the world. 

There is one of these old Roman teachers whom 
many of my readers, if I should have many, will 
delight to know. It is Verrius Flaccus, the father 


Chap. XXIII. TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY. 


247 


to the system of offering rewards of merit. His 
system of literary encouragement is sometimes dis¬ 
paraged now, but whatever we may think of the 
wisdom of it, we cannot doubt the benevolence of 
the old Roman schoolmaster’s heart. 

There are not many biographies of teachers more 
ideal than his, and we are sorry it is so brief. Here 
it is, after Suetonius : — 

“ Yerrius Elaccus, a freedman, distinguished him¬ 
self by a new mode of teaching; for it was his 
practice to exercise the wits of his scholars, by en¬ 
couraging emulation among them; not only pro¬ 
posing the subjects on which they were to write, 
but offering rewards for those who were successful 
in the contest. These consisted of some ancient, 
handsome, or rare book. Being, in consequence, 
selected by Augustus as preceptor to his grandsons, 
he transferred his entire school to the Palatium, but 
with the understanding that he should admit no 
fresh scholars. The hall in Catiline’s house, which 
had then been added to the palace, was assigned 
him for his school, with a yearly allowance of one 
hundred thousand sesterces. He died of old age, 
in the reign of Tiberius. There is a statue of him 
at Prseneste in the semicircle at the lower side of 
the forum, where he had set up calendars arranged 
by himself and inscribed on slabs of marble.” 

The Greek language and literature during the 
Empire greatly influenced Rome and her provinces. 
Greek had become the literary language of Syria, 
and the books that constitute the New Testament 
were originally written in Greek. 

In the spring of 58, the fourth year of the 
reign of Hero, or about that time, the Apostle 
Paul wrote from Corinth an epistle or letter to 


248 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. Chap. XXIII. 


the Roman Christians, known now as the Epistle 
of Paul to the Romans. Paul was a Greek scholar. 
His epistle followed the general views of the 
Stoics, but showed that the soul was justified by 
faith in God, and that this teaching of Christ 
was also that of Abraham. The epistle or letter 
was carried by Phoebe, a servant of the Church at 
the port of Corinth, and of all the writings which 
were discussed at Rome in the time of Nero and 
the succeeding emperors, none have exerted a 
greater influence on the history of the world, ex¬ 
cept the Gospels. The letter is an argument and 
has force rather than the grace of composition. 
The letters of Paul written from Rome to the 
Corinthians exhibit the beauty of Greek rhetoric 
and literary art. 

We have told you the legend of the Cumsean 
Sibyl, and have spoken of the influence of the Sib¬ 
ylline prophecies in the early days of the Empire. 
We have quoted the stanza from Horace’s ode, in 
which the Sibyl’s authority is given for the Secular 
Games. The translation which we gave of Virgil’s 
Pollio, was in blank verse: Dryden’s translation, 
which resembles Pope’s Messiah, has a more poetic 
and sympathetic spirit. You may like to read that 
when you have learned how much the poem influ¬ 
enced the destinies of Rome. 

Constantine is said to have been an admirer of 
this wonderful poem, and to have believed it to be 
a prophecy of Christ and Christianity. Of this in¬ 
fluence Gibbons says: “In the midst of the inces¬ 
sant labors of his great office, this soldier employed, 
or affected to employ, the hours of night in the 
diligent study of the Scriptures, and the composi¬ 
tion of theological discourses, which he afterwards 



THE ARCH OF CONSTANTINE. 




































































































Chap. XXIII. TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY. 


249 


pronounced in the presence of a numerous and 
applauding audience. In a very long discourse 
which is still extant the royal preacher expatiates 
in the various proofs of religion, but lie dwells with 
particular complacency on the Sibylline verses, and 
the Fourth Eclogue of Virgil (Pollio ). Forty years 
before the birth of Christ, the Mantuan* bard, as if 
inspired by the celestial muse of Isaiah, had cele¬ 
brated with all the pomp of Oriental metaphor, the 
return of the Virgin, the fall of the serpent, the 
approaching birth of a god-like child, the offspring 
of the great Jupiter who should expiate the guilt 
of the human kind.” 

Gibbon adds: “ If a more splendid, and indeed 
specious interpretation of the Fourth Eclogue con¬ 
tributed to the conversion of the first Christian 
emperor, Virgil may deserve to be marked among 
the most successful missionaries of the Gospel.” 
Constantine’s studies as a soldier inclined his heart 
toward Christianity, and the times were ripe for a 
Christian emperor. 

In the year 312 the event occurred which changed 
the character of the Roman world and the course 
of history. This was the purpose of Constantine 
publicly to renounce heathenism and accept Chris¬ 
tianity. The enemies of Constantine have accused 
him of being crafty and politic in making this 
change, for the Christian religion was now winning 
the hearts of the people, and the Christian Church 
had become powerful in Rome. We think that the 
motives of Constantine were sincere. Although 
he announced his purpose of becoming a Christian 
at this time, he was not baptized until near the 
close of his life. 

The conversion of Constantine is associated in 


250 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. Chap. XXIII. 


old histories with a very wonderful story. We 
give the legend here as told by an ancient writer 
w r ho claimed to have received the narrative from 
Constantine’s own lips. The scene of the event 
was near Rome, which city Constantine was ap¬ 
proaching to engage in battle with the rival 
emperor Maxentius. 

“The army arriving near Rome,” says the nar¬ 
rative, “the emperor was employed in devout ejac¬ 
ulations. It was the 27th of October, about three 
o’clock in the afternoon. The sun was declining 
when suddenly there appeared a pillar of light in 
the heavens in the form of a cross, with this in¬ 
scription : ‘ in hoc signo vinces,’ — ‘ in this sign 
thou shalt conquer.’ 

“The emperor was amazed. The cross and sign 
blazed before the eyes of the whole army. 

“Early the next morning Constantine informed 
his officers that Christ had appeared to him in the 
night with the cross in his hand, and commanded 
him to make the Cross his royal standard. The 
officers were ordered to construct a cross and a 
standard. The standard was made thus : — 

“A long spear plated with gold, with a transverse 
piece at the top in the form of a cross, to which 
was fastened a four square purple banner embroid¬ 
ered with gold and beset with precious stones. 
Above the cross was a crown overlaid with gold 
and gems, within which was placed the sacred sym¬ 
bol, the two first letters of the name of Christ in 
G-reek.” 

Under this banner Constantine, having overcome 
Maxentius, entered Rome in triumph, and was 
hailed by the Christian population with great re¬ 
joicing. Thus the waning autumn of 312 witnessed 


Chap. XXIII. TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY. 


251 


the beginning of the end of the heathen rites of 
more than a thousand years and the advent of the 
faith which has come to possess the civilized world. 
From this date the world may be said to have begun 
anew. We may credit or not the marvellous legend 
of the vision of the cross; the event of the downfall 
of the ancient gods and the acceptance of the gospel 
of Christ is certain. The ancient Eome vanished, 
a new Rome came. 

The master of the Roman world, having become 
a Christian, aspired to found a city, which should 
be dedicated to the enlightened faith from the 
beginning. Such a city, to follow the grand tradi¬ 
tions of the past, should be of celestial origin; and 
Constantine, while at Byzantium, claimed to have 
had a vision, in which a celestial messenger came to 
him and indicated to him in a mystic way that he 
should there found a city. " By the commands of 
God,” he said, “I lay the everlasting foundations,” 
and he founded Constantinople, a new Rome, which 
he seems to have believed would eclipse the glory 
of the Rome of the Republic and the Emperors. 

But not without reason did this vision rise before 
him. On the one hand was frhe Euxine, and on the 
other the Mediterranean; and between them, like 
a horn, W'hich is now known as the Golden Horn, 
were the straits that were the gates of the great 
empires of the Asiatic east and the Roman west. 

The founding of Constantinople is associated with 
as poetic a legend as that of the founding of Rome 
by Romulus. The latter is said to have ploughed 
a furrow around the city. Constantine is repre¬ 
sented as going forth on foot with a lance in his 
hand, and followed by a solemn procession, and 
causing the line to be stretched which was to form 


252 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. Chap. XXIII. 


the boundary of the new city. The march was a 
long one, when one of his assistants said, — 

“ You have already exceeded the limits of the 
founding of any other city.” 

“I shall still advance,” said the Emperor, “till 
the invisible guide who goes before me commands 
me to stop.” 

One might wish that such a pleasing story were 
true. The mind loves the legends that stand for 
the spirit of events. But whatever truth or misap¬ 
prehension there may be in the visions of Constan¬ 
tine and the poetic tales related of him, he had the 
mind of the seer and the creative imagination of 
those who have been leaders in all great events, 
and he founded in his own name, and for the glory 
of the Church, one of the greatest cities that were 
to succeed Rome. 

The great age of Constantine and his sons — 
Constantine, Constantius, and Constans — followed. 



Money of Constantine. 


Rome was now likely to be rivalled by the new city 
across the Hellespont, but a greater humiliation 
was at hand. 

The family of Constantine were followed by the 
Emperors Gallus and Juliaii and a line of em¬ 
perors who left no records of great deeds in the 
world. The ancient temples of the gods fell or were 
turned into Christian churches. But the obscure 



Chap. XXIII. TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY. 


253 


pastoral nations of the West and North were growing 
in numbers and strength, and the Huns and Goths 
were to complete the destruction of heathen Rome. 

The leader of the invasion which was to close 
the periods of the Roman gods of the Republic and 
Empire forever was Alaricus, or Alaric, — Al-ric, all 
rich. He was the King of the Visigoths, and first 
appears in history a,d. 394. He invaded Greece 
in 396, and was made king by his countrymen 398. 
About the year 400 he invaded Italy. He made 
three sieges of Rome in 408, 409, 410. 

On August 24, 410, he entered Rome, and his 
army sacked the city for six days and bore' away 
with them the spoils of the city and the treasures 
of the capital. 

Leaving Rome in triumph, loaded with the spoils 
of the Roman centuries, he came to Consentia, near 
the river Busentinus; there he fell suddenly ill. 
Finding death approaching, he ordered that, after 
his decease, the river should be turned aside from 
its bed, and that his body and the spoils of Rome 
should be buried there in one tomb, and the river 
turned back again into its natural channel.‘ The 
order was obeyed, and the slaves employed in turn¬ 
ing aside the river were slain to make the secret 
of the place of the tomb of the treasures of Rome 
more secure. A poet makes Alaric to say: — 

“ When I am dead no pageant train 

Shall waste their sorrows o’er my bier, 

Nor worthless pomp of homage vain 
Stain it with hypocritic tear, 

For I will die as I did live, 

Nor take the boon I cannot give. 

“ But ye the mountain stream shall turn 
And lay its secret channel bare, 


254 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. Chap. XXIII. 


And hollow, for your sovereign’s urn, 

A resting-place forever there ; 

And never he the secret said 
Until the deep give up its dead. 

“ My course was like a river deep, 

And from the Northern hills I burst 
Across the world in wrath to sweep ; 

And where I went the spot was curst, 

Nor blade of grass again was seen 
Where Alaric and his hosts had been. 

“ Not for myself did I ascend 

In judgment my triumphal car, 

For God alive on high did send 
The avenging Scythian to the war, 

To spread abroad with iron hand 
The appointed scourge of his command. 

* * * * # * 

“Across the everlasting Alp 

I poured the torrent of my powers, 

And feeble Caesars shrieked for help 
In vain within their seven-hilled towers. 

I quenched in blood the brightest gem 
That glittered in their diadem. 

“ My course is run, my errand done, 

But darker ministers'of fate 
For vengeance round the eternal throne 
And in the cares of judgment wait. 

But long shall Roman hearts be sick 
When men shall think of Alaric.” 

The triumph of Alaric over the proud empire 
prepared the way for the invasion of the Huns. 
In the year 455, Genseric, King of the Vandals, 
came swooping down on the city of Home from the 
port of Ostia, expecting to he met by an army of 
Koman youth. Instead of this, there issued from 
the gates a procession of venerable clergy led by a 
bishop. The barbarian conqueror promised to spare 
the unresisting people, but for fourteen days the 


Chap. XXIII. TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY. 255 

city was given over to pillage, and all that remained 
of Roman wealth, of public or private treasure, the 
gems of maid and matron, the holy decorations of 
temples and altars, the crown, the purple, and the 
insignia of State, all were transported to the vessels 
of Genseric. 

So Rome that had robbed the world was robbed 
by the world in the weakness begotten by the spoils 
of the nations. The measure that she had meted 
was meted out to her again. The Roman spirit 
decayed in the years of riches, triumph, and so- 
called glory, and the year 490 found Odoacer, a 
barbarian, king of the land of the traditions of 
.Eneas, of Romulus, Tullius, Cincinnatus, Regulus, 
and Aurelius. The year 500 a.d. brought to a close 
all that remained of the pride and glory of thd 
Republic and Empire of Rome. Prosperity had 
proved fatal to Roman virtue, and the loss of char¬ 
acter was a loss of spirit, and honor, and valor. 
The hardy giants of the northern lands held her 
at their mercy, and the Queen of Empires, after 
all her triumphs, grovelled now at the barbarians’ 
chariot wheels. 

Such, little Arthur, is the story of Rome, as a 
lover of old tales might tell it, without seeking to 
destroy the traditions of the past. What are we to 
learn from it all ? What does the great nation 
that rose and vanished now say to us ? 

It is character that lives, and character is every¬ 
thing. The names that do not perish are those 
that are allied to truth, which is eternal. They are 
Tullius, who sought the rights of people; Cincin¬ 
natus, who could go from the plough to serve the 
State and return to the plough again; Regulus, 
whose honor was more than life j the Catos; Aure- 


256 


LAST DAYS OF ROME. Chap. XXIII. 


litis; Peter and Paul. All Roman history seems to 
voice the principle of Christ, “ He that saveth his 
life shall lose it.” It is not the memory of Roman 
wealth or power or glory that is precious and en¬ 
shrined, but of Roman virtue and honorable poverty 
and sacrifice. He who denies himself the most 
receives the most from God, and whatever may rise 
or fall in this changing world, righteousness is 
immortal. 

Live for the right, and be true to it, and give it 
the influence of your life, and the ages will rise up 
to bless you. Beginning our story with Virgil, we 
will end with him here : — 

“Possunt, quia posse videntur.” 

' [“ They are able because they are seen to be able.”] 

Such do well, but they do better who for right and 
truth are able to stand against the world. So I 
unclasp your hand, little Arthur, with a farewell 
at the gate of the school of life that is opening 
before you, after our journey back into the pic¬ 
turesque past to visit some of the scenes of Rome. 







NEW BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 


TOM CLIFTON; OR, WESTERN BOYS IN GRANT 
AND SHERMAN’S ARMY. By Warren Lee Goss, 

author of “Jed,” “ Recollections of a Private,” etc. Fully illustrated. 121110, 

$1.50. 

Mr. Goss has the genius of a stovv-teller. No one can follow the fortunes of Toni 
Clifton and his friends either in their experiments in farming 111 Minnesota or in the 
Western army, without the deepest interest. It is the best boys’-book of the year, 
and has, besides, permanent value from a historical standpoint. 

FAMOUS TYPES OF WOMANHOOD. By Sarah K. 

Bolton, author of “ Poor Boys Who Became Famous,” etc. Lives of Marie 
Louise, Queen of Prussia, Madam Recamier, Jenny Lind, Miss Dix, etc. 
With Portraits. 121110, $1.50. 

Mrs. Bolton here gives in an entertaining style vivid pictures from the lives of 
some notable women who have won undying fame in art, philanthropy, and other 
fields of usefulness. 


MIXED PICKLES. By Mrs. Evelyn H. Raymond, author of 

“ Monica, the Mesa Maiden.” Illustrated. 121110, $1.25. 

Under this mysterious and alluring title Mrs. Raymond describes the queer and 
amusing adventures of a number of bright German boys and girls and their cousins 
in a quiet Quaker farmhouse. 

THE RIVERPARK REBELLION, and A TALE OF 
THE TOW PATH. By Homer Greene, author of “ The 

Blind Brother,” “ Burnham Breaker,” etc. 121110. Illustrated. $1.00. 

The first is the story of an episode in a military school on the Hudson, and it 
simply glows with life and energy. In the “Tale of the Tow Path” Mr. Greene 
takes the reader out of the usual environment and shows him new scenes described 


in Ins own inimitable way. 

IN BLUE CREEK CANON. By Anna Chapin Ray, author 

of “ Half a Dozen Girls,” “ Half a Dozen Boys,” etc. Illustrated. i2ino, 

4? I • 

Miss Ray transports to the Rocky Mountains a party of her happy, wholesome 
boys and girls, and depicts photographically their pleasures during a summer in a 
mining camp. The story is full of atmosphere and life. 

THE CADETS OF FLEMMING HALL. By Anna Chapin 

Ray, author of “ Half a Dozen Girls,” “ Half a Dozen Boys,” etc. Illus¬ 
trated. 121110, $1.25. , . , , 

Schoolboy life has not been often depicted in colors that will more surely delight 
the reader than in this volume. It is a story full of enthusiasm, with exciting ad¬ 
ventures, genial fun, and of high purpose. 

THE MOTHER OF THE KING’S CHILDREN. By the 

Rev. J. F. Cowan, author of the “ Jo-Boat Boys.” With an introduction by 
the Rev. F. E. Clark, D D. Illustrated. 121110, $1.50. 

A book of much merit, quite above the average, and will do good wherever read. 
Especially will it deepen an interest in practical religious work. 

LITTLE ARTHUR’S HISTORY OF ROME. By Heze- 

kxaii Butterwoktii, author of the “ Zigzag Books,” etc. A companion 
volume to “ Little Arthur’s England and France.” Illustrated. 121110, $1.25. 
No one better understands the requirements of the young than Mr Butterworth, 
and his book will foster an appetite for classical studies. 

SHORT STUDIES IN BOTANY FOR CHILDREN. 

Bv Mrs. Harriet C. Cooper. Fully illustrated, izmo, $1.00. 

Many teachers and parents have found that Botany may be made attractive to very 
young children. Mrs. Cooper’s little volume contains a practical demonstration of 

this._ 


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T. Y. CROWELL & CO., - New York and Boston. 

C-o) 





Ihportant Historical Works 


THE FOUNDING OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 

Based chiefly upon Prussian State Documents, by IIeinhich von Sybel. Trans¬ 
lated by Marshall Livingston Perrin, assisted bv Gamaliel Bradford, Jr. Completed 
in 5 vols. Cloth, per set, $10.00; half mor., $20.00. 

“No more important historical work lias appeared in the last decade.” — Nation. 
“ Impossible to praise too highly.”— Chicago Standard. 

“ A triumph of historical description.”— Detroit Free Press. 

A HISTORY OF FRANCE. 

By Victor Duruy, member of the French Academy. Abridged and translated 
from the seventeenth French edition, by Mrs. M. Carey, with an introductory notice 
and a continuation to the year 1S90, by J. Franklin Jameson, Ph.D., Professor of 
History in Brown University. With 12 engraved colored maps. In one volume. 
i2ino. Cloth, $2.00. Half calf, $4.00. 

“ Of all the short summaries of French History, this is probably the best.” — Ex- 
President Andrew D. White , Cornell University. 

A book widely desired by schools, colleges and libraries, students and general 
readers. 

MEMOIRS OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 

By Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne, his Private Secretary. Edited 
by Col. R. W. Phipps. New and revised edition, with 34 full-page portraits and 
other illustrations. 4 vols. 121110. Cloth, plain, $5.00. Cloth, gilt top, paper label, 
$6.00. Half calf, $12.00. Limited edition with over 100 illustrations, gilt top, half 
leather, $10.00. The latest American edition, and the only one with a complete index. 

“ If you want something to read both interesting and amusing, get the ‘ Memoires 
de Bourrienne.’ These are the only authentic memoirs of Napoleon which have as 
yet appeared.” — Prince Metternich. 

- RECOLLECTIONS OF A PRIVATE. 

A Story of the Army of the Potomac. By Warren Lee Goss, author of “Jed.” 
With over So illustrations by Chapin and Shelton. Royal Svo., cloth, $3.00. Seal 
russia, $4.00. Half morocco, $5.00. 

“No volume of war history has given the reader more graphic descriptions of 
army life.” — Inter Ocean. 

“ One of the handsomest as well as one of the most valuable works in American 
war literature.” — Boston Globe. 

HER MAJESTY’S TOWER. 

By W. Hepworth Dixon. New edition, complete in one volume. A history of 
the Tower of London, from the seventh London edition, with 47 illustrations. Royal 
i2ino. Cloth, $2.00. Half calf, $4.00. The result of twenty years’ research. 

“The best possible introduction a stranger can have to that famous building.” — 
Christian Union. 

THE NARRATIVE OF CAPTAIN COIGNET, 

SOLDIER OF THE EMPIRE, 1 776-1850. 

An autobiographical account of one of Napoleon’s Body-Guard. Fully illustrated, 
ianio., half leather, $2.50. Half calf, $5.00. 

“ It is meagre praise to sav that it is interesting. It is more than that. It is a 
panorama.” — Mi?ineapolis Journal. 

“As direct as Robinson Crusoe, vived almost beyond expression.”— Boston 
Herald. 


For sale by all Booksellers. Catalogues sent free upon application. 


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( 23 ) 





WAR STORIES BY WARREN LEE GOSS. 


RECOLLECTIONS OF A PRIVATE. A Story of the 

Array of the Potoraac. By Warren Lee Goss, author of “ Jed.” 

With over SO illustrations by Chapin and Shelton. Koyal Svo. 

Cloth, $3.25 ; seal russia, $4.25 ; half morocco, $5.00. 

Among the many books about the Civil War there is none which 
more clearly describes what took place among the rank and file of the 
Union Army, while on the march or on the battle-field, than the story 
given by Mr. Goss in this volume. 

It is one of the handsomest, as well as one of the most valuable works in 
American war literature. — Boston Globe. 

No volume of war history has given the reader more graphic descriptions of 
army life. . . . The writer speaks from knowledge and not from theory. — 
Chicago Inter-Ocean. 

From General Itosecrans, Register of Treasury 

Treasury Department, Register’s Office. 

Washington, D.C., Sept. 24, 1890. 

... It may seem strange, but it is true, that I have had comparatively little 
time to devote to war literature, but I derived much pleasure from the perusal 
of this book. Its raciness of style, accuracy of statement, and often pathos of 
the story, so much interested me that I devoted a whole evening to it. It is all 
the more pleasant because from my own knowledge, I believe it to be a fair rep 
resentation of the spirit of that great body of patriotic men, the private soldiers 
of the Union Army; and I hope it may be largely read, not only by old soldiers, 
but also by other citizens, young and old. 

Yoiirs truly, W. S. Rosecrans. 

i 

JED. A Boy’s Adventures in the Army of 1861-’65. 

A Story of Battle and Prison, of Peril and Escape. By Warren 

Lee Goss, author of “ The Soldier’s Story of his Captivity at An- 

dersonville and other Prisons,” “ The Recollections of a Private” 

(in the Century War Series). Fully illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. 

In this story the author has aimed to furnish true pictures of scenes 
in the great Civil War, and not to produce sensational effects. The 
incidents of the book are real ones, drawn largely from the writer’s 
personal experiences and observations as a soldier of the Union during 
that war. The descriptions of life in the Southern prisons are 
especially graphic. It is one of the best war stories ever written. 
Boys will read it with avidity. 

Of all the many stories of the Civil War that have been published it is not 
possible to mention one which for sturdy realism, intensity of interest, and range 
of narrative can compare with Jed. — Boston Beacon. 

A book that every boy in the country will want to read the moment he sees 
it, and it is as instructive as entertaining. — Brooklyn Union. 

A thrilling story of bravery, endurance, and final success. — Boston Home 
Journal. 

For sale by all Booksellers. Complete Catalogue sent to any address 
upon application. 


THOMAS Y. CEO WELL & 00,, Publishers, New York, 




PUBLICATIONS FOB YOUNG PEOPLE. 


A SCORE OF FAMOUS COMPOSERS. By Nathan 

Haskell Dole, formerly musical editor of the Philadelphia Press and Evening 
Bulletin. With portraits of Beethoven, Wagner, Liszt, Haydn, etc. i2mo, $1.50. 
No pams have been spared to make this volume of musical biographies accurate, and at 
the same time entertaining. Many quaint and curious details have been found in out-of- 
the-way German or Italian sources. Beginning with Palestrina, “ the Prince of Music,” 
concerning whose life many interesting discoveries have been recently made, and ending 
with Wagner, the twenty Composers, while in the majority of German origin, still embrace 
representatives of England and Italy, Hungary and Russia, of France and Poland. 
Free from pedantry and technicalities, simple and straightforward in style, these sketches 
aim above all to acquaint the reader, and particularly the young, with the personality of 
the subjects, to make them live again while recounting their struggles and triumphs. 

FAMOUS ENGLISH STATESMEN. By Sarah K. Bol¬ 
ton, author of “ Poor Boys Who became Famous.” With Portraits of Gladstone, 
John Bright, Robert Peel, etc. i2mo, $1.50. 

Mrs. Bolton has found a peculiarly congenial subject in her latest contribution to the 
series of “ Famous” books. Nearly all of the English statesmen whose biographies she 
so sympathetically recounts, have been leaders in great works of reform; and with many 
Mrs. Bolton had the privilege of personal acquaintance. She has given succinct, yet suffi¬ 
ciently detailed descriptions of the chief labors of these statesmen, and the young reader 
will find them stirring and stimulating, full of anecdotes and bright sayings. 

THE JO-BOAT BOYS. By Rev. J. F. Cowan, D.D., editor of 

“Our Young People,” etc. Illustrated by H. W. Peirce. i2mo, $1.50. 

The shanty boats which shelter the amphibious people along the banks of the Ohio are 
called Jo-Boats, and Dr. Cowan has chosen this original environment for the earlier 
scenes of his remarkably lively and sprited story. It will appeal to every boy who has a 
spark of zest in his soul. 

AN ENTIRE STRANGER. By Rev. T. L. Baily. Illustrated. 

i2mo, $1.25. 

The heroine of Mr. Baily’s naive and fascinating story is a school-teacher who is full 
of resources, and understands how to bring out the diverse capabilities of her scholars. 
She wins the love and admiration of her school, and interests them in many improve¬ 
ments. 11 is a thoroughly practical book, and we should be glad to see it in the hands of 
all teachers and their scholars. 

THROWN UPON HER OWN RESOURCES; OR, 
WHAT GIRLS CAN DO. By “Jenny June” (Mrs. 

Croly). A book for girls. i 2 mo, $ 1 . 25 . 

Mrs. Croly, the able editor of The Home Maker , in this book for girls, shows in her 
practical, common-sense way, what chances there are open to young women, when the 
necessity comes for self-support. The wise, prudent words of one who has had so much 
experience in dealing with the problems of life will be welcomed by a large class of 
readers. 

LED IN UNKNOWN PATHS. By Anna F. Raffensperger, 

Illustrated, nmo, $1.25. ... 

A simple, unpretentious diarv of homely, every-day life. It is so true to nature that it 
reads like a transcript from an actual journal. It is full of good-humor, quiet fun, gentle 
pathos, and good sound sense. One follows with surprising interest the daily doings, the 
pleasures and trials of the good family whose life is pictured in its pages. 

HALF A DOZEN GIRLS. By Anna Chapin Ray, author of 

“ Half a Dozen Boys.” Illustrated, ‘nmo, $1.25. ■ t , 

A book for girls displaying unusual insight into human nature with a quiet, sly humor, 
a faculty of investing every-day events with a dramatic interest, a photographic touch, 
and a fine moral tone. It ought to be a favorite with many girls. 

THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO., Publishers, New York, 

(i7) 



PUBLICATIONS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 


1 TOM BROWN’S SCHOOL DAYS 

By Thomas Hughes. With 53 illustrations engraved by Andrew, carefully 
printed from beautiful type on calendered paper. i2mo, cloth, $2.00; full gilt, 
$2.50. Edition de luxe , limited to 250 numbered copies, large paper, Japan 
proofs mounted, $5.00. 

Praise or comment on this classic would be a work of supererogation. Everv 
parent sooner or later puts it in his children’s hands. We can only say that the 
present edition is by all odds the best that has ever been offered to the "American 
public. Printed from large type, well illustrated, and 'handsomely bound, it makes 
a book worthy of any library. 

2 FAMOUS EUROPEAN ARTISTS. 

By Mrs. Sarah K. Bolton, author of “ Poor Boys Who Became Famous,” 
etc. With portraits of Raphael, Titian, Landseer, Reynolds, Rubens, Turner, 
and others. 121110, $1.50. 

In this handsome volume, Mrs. Bolton relates sympathetically, and with her usual 
skill in seizing upon salient points, the lives of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Turner, and 
other artists, whose names are household words. The sketches are accompanied by 

excellent portraits. 

3 FAMOUS ENGLISH AUTHORS OF THE 19th 

CENTURY. 

By Mrs. Sarah K. Bolton, author of “ Poor Boys Who Became Famous,” 
etc. With portraits of Scott, Burns, Carlyle, Dickens, Tennyson, Robert 
Browning, etc. 121110, $1.50. 

During a recent visit abroad, Mrs. Bolton had the opportunity of visiting many of 
the scenes made memorable by the residence or writings of the best known English 
authors, and the incidents which she was thus enabled to invest with a personal 
interest, she has woven into the sketches of Tennyson, Ruskin, Browning, and the 
other authors of whom she writes. These two companion volumes are among the 
best of the famous “ Famous ” Series. 

4 GOSPEL STORIES. 

Translated from the Russian of Count L. N. Tolstoi by Nathan Haskell 
Dole. i2mo, $1.25. 

Count Tolstoi’s short sketches of Russian life, inspired generally by some pregnant 
text of Scripture and written for the masses, perhaps even more than his longer 
works show the man’s real greatness. Sixteen of these, selected from various publi¬ 
cations, are here presented in a neat and attractive volume. 

5 PHILIP, or What May Have Been 

A story of the First Century. By Mary C. Cutler. i2mo, $1.25. 

An appreciative notice of this story contains the following words : —“ Reverence, 
accuracy, a chastened feeling of perfect sincerity, pervade this book. . . . We have 
read it through, and can confidently recommend it as in every way fitted to give the 
old familiar facts of the gospel history a new interest.” 

6 HALF A DOZEN BOYS. 

By Annie Chapin Ray. i2mo, illustrated, $1.25. 

This is a genuine story of boy life. The six heroes are capital fellows, such as 
any healthy lad, or girl either for that matter, will feel heart warm toward. The 
simple incidents and amusements of the village where they live are invested with 
a peculiar charm through the hearty and sympathetic style in which the book is 
written. It is a book quite worthy of Miss Alcott’s pen. 


jFor sale by all booksellers. 


THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO., Publishers, New York. 





NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. 


THE EVERY DAY OF LIFE. By the Rev. J. R. Miller, 

D.D., author of “ Silent Times,” “ Making the Most of Life,” etc. i6mo, gilt 
top, parti-cloth, $1.00; i6mo, white and gold, gilt edges, $1.25; levant morocco, 
flexible, gilt edges, $2.50. 

Hearty words of love and sympathy designed to help and cheer those who are 
weary with the treadmill of daily cares and perplexities. 

WORDSWORTH’S POEMS. (Selections.) Illustrated in 

photogravure by E. H. Garrett. Printed on fine dekle-edge, laid paper. 
121110, cloth, ornamental design. Gilt top, cloth box, $2 50; full leather, gilt 
top, $ 3 - 5 o. 

This is the selection made by the late Matthew Arnold and includes the cream of 
Wordsworth’s verse. Mr. Garrett, the artist, has here found a peculiarly congenial 
held, and his admirable drawings in the interpretation of the text will be fully- 
appreciated. 

WALTON’S ANGLER. New edition. Complete in two volumes 

with all the original S6 illustrations of Major’s edition and photogravure 
frontispieces. 2 vols. 161110, cloth, gilt top, $2.50. 

Even those who do not fish love the quaint style of the “ divine Izaak,” and there 
is no better edition than Major’s, or this reproduction of that time-honored classic. 

POLLY BUTTON’S NEW YEAR. By Mrs. C. F. Wilder. 

i2mo. Unique parti-cloth binding, .75. 

Miss Polly Button, reduced in fortune, makes herself a power in her church by 
applying her Christianity to every-day life. 

EQUITABLE TAXATION. A series of Prize Essays by 

Walter E. Weyl, Robert Luce, Bolton Hall, and others. Introduction 
by the Hon. Jonathan A. Lane. Biographical sketches and portraits. i2ino, .75. 
Nothing is more evident than that there is a crying need for change in our unjust 
tax laws. A most stimulating and valuable book. 

DAILY FOOD. New illustrated edition, with 12 photo-engravings. 

181110. Parti-cloth, gilt edge, .75; iSmo, lavender and gold, gilt edge, .75; 181110 
French silk, gilt edge, #1.25. 

Thousands of this little classic have been sold. The present edition is most 
attractive in appearance, neatly printed from new plates, exquisitely illustrated, and 
handsomely bound. 

A PLEA FOR THE GOSPEL. By the Rev. George D. 

Herron, author of “The Message of Jesus,” “The Larger Christ.” i6mo, 
parti-cloth, gilt top, .75. 

The author’s previous volumes have been hailed by men of all denominations as 
the work of a writer intellectually and spiritually cast in the mould of Maurice, Mul- 
ford, and Brooks. 

MONICA, THE MESA MAIDEN. By Mrs. Evelyn H. 

Raymond. Illustrated. 121110, $1.25. 

Monica is a Spanish girl of Southern California, who lives in a quaint old house 
of adobe, surrounded with vines and flowers. She meets with strange adventures 
which result in the unravelling of a complicated chain of destiny. 

LES MISERABLES. By Victor Hugo. Translated by Isabel 

F. Hapgood. New edition. Complete in two volumes, with 32 full-page illus¬ 
trations. i2ino. Cloth, gilt top, boxed, $3.00. White back, fancy paper sides, 
gilt top, $3.00. 

TENNYSON’S POEMS. New edition. Complete in two 

volumes Illustrated with two photogravures and numerous wood engravings 
by the best artists. 2 vols. i2mo. Gilt top, $3x0; white back, fancy paper 
sides, gilt top, 53-00. 


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T, Y, CROWELL & CO,, - New York and Boston. 

( 24 ) 





STANDARD WORKS IN SETS 


CHARLES DICKENS’S COMPLETE WORKS. 30 

Volume Edition. With all the original illustrations by Phiz, Cruikshaxk, 
etc., and many later ones, to which have been added 65 new cuts from etchings 
• by Pailthorpe, contained in no other edition and a steel portrait, making, in all, 

799 full-page illustrations. Printed on fine calendered paper, large i2mo. 30 
volumes, gilt top, cloth, gilt back, per set, £40.00; gilt top, cloth, plain back, per 
set,$40.00; half calf, gilt top, per set, $80.i.o; half crushed levant, per set, $iio.co. 
Volumes sold separately in the plain back, cloth binding, at $1.50 per volume. 

lit V ltime Edition. Carefully printed on fine machine-finish paper, with 240 

full-page illustrations. Large 121110. Popular edition, 15 vols., cloth, per set, 
£iS. 75; half calf, marbled edges, per set, £37.50. Library edition, 15 vols., cloth, 
gilt top, per set, $22.50; half calf, gilt top, per set, $45.00. Volumes sold sepa¬ 
rately in cloth, plain, at $1.25 per volume, and gilt top at £1.50 per volume. 

VICTOR HUGO’S WORKS. Illustrated Edition. Over 600 

illustrations. Calendered paper. Cloth, gilt top, 15 vols. 121110, $22.50; halfcalf, 
extra, $45.00; half crushed morocco, $52.50; half crushed levant, $60.00. 
Volumes in this set boxed and sold separately in cloth at $1.50 per volume, and * 
half calf at $3.00 per volume. 

Les Miserables, 5 vols.; Notre-Dame, 2 vols.; Ninety-three, 2 vols.; Toilers 
of the Sea, 2 vols.; History of a Crime, 2 vols.; By Order of the King, 2 vols. 
Library Edition. Illustrated. The above fifteen volumes bound in 10 volumes, 
cloth, gilt top. (Sold only in sets), $15.00; half calf, $30.00. 

Popular Edition. 6 vols., 121110, cloth, $7.50; half calf, 7 vols., $14.00; half 
pebble calf, Roger Payne finish, gilt top, 7 vols., $13.00. Volumes in this set 
sold separately in cloth at $1.25 each. 

Les Miserables, Notre-Dame, Ninety-three, Toilers of the Sea, History of a 
Crime, By Order of the King. • 

Les Miserables. Popular Edition. 5 vols., i2ino, half russia, $6.00; half pebble 
calf, Roger Payne Finish, gilt top, $7.50. 

Les Miserables . New edition. Complete in two volumes, with 32 full-page illus¬ 
trations. 121110. Cloth, gilt top, boxed, $3.00. White back, fancy paper sides, 
gilt top, $3.00. 

WASHINGTON IRVING’S COMPLETE WORKS. 

Popular Edition. S vols., $S.oo; Library Edition, leather titles, gilt top, $io.co; 
half calf, $12.00; half russia, $10.00; half pebble calf, Roger Payne finish, gilt 
top, $11.00. 

BOURRIENNE’S MEMOIRS OF NAPOLEON. By 

Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Boukkienne, his private secretary. Edited by 
Col. R. W. Phipps. Latest American edition, with 3.4 full-page "portraits and 
other illustrations, and a complete index, found only in this edition. 4 vols., 
121110, cloth, plain, $5.00; cloth, gilt top, $6.00; half calf, $10.00; half Levant 
morocco, $15.00. The same. Limited edition. With over 100 illustrations, gilt 
top, half leather, $10. go. 

TENNYSON’S WORKS. Handy volume edition. 8 vols. 

Cloth, gilt top, neat cloth case, $6.00; half russia, gilt edges, leather box uni¬ 
form with binding, $12.00; half calf, gilt edges, fancy leatherette case, $12 00; 
American seal Russia, gilt edges, round corners, fancy leatherette case, $15.00; 
Tree calf, gilt edges, in calf box, $30.00. 

TENNYSON’S WORKS. New edition. Complete in two 

volumes. Illustrated with two photogravures and numerous wood engravings 
by the best artists. 2 vols. 121110. Gilt top, $3.00; white back, fancy paper 
sides, gilt top, $3.00. 

VON SYBEL’S “GERMAN EMPIRE.” Based chiefly 

upon Prussian State Documents, by Heinrich von Sybel. Translated by 
Marshall Livingston Perrin, assisted by Gamaliel Bradford, Jr. Completed in 
5 vols. Cloth, per set, $10.00; half morocco, $20.00. 

For sale by all booksellers. Catalogues sent free upon application* 

T. Y. CROWELL & CO., - New York and Boston. 

( 26 ) 





MRS. BOLTON'S FAMOUS BOOKS. 


“ The most interesting books to me ore the histories of individuals and individual 
minds, all autobiographies , and the like. This is my favorite reading .”— H. W. 
Longfellow. 

“ Mrs. Bolton never fails to interest and instruct her readers .”— Chicago Inter- 
Ocean. 

“ Always written in a bright and fresh style." — Boston Home Journal. 

“ Readable zvilhout inaccuracy .” — Boston Post. 


POOR BOYS WHO BECAME FAMOUS. 

By Sarah K. Bolton. Short biographical sketches of George Peabody, Michael 
Faraday, Samuel Johnson, Admiral Farragut, Horace Greeley, William Lloyd Gar¬ 
rison, Garibaldi, President Lincoln, and other noted persons who, from humble 
circumstances, have risen to fame and distinction, and left behind an imperishable 
record. Illustrated with 24 portraits. i2mo. $1-50. 

GIRLS WHO BECAME FAMOUS. 

By Sarah K. Bolton. A companion book to “ Poor Boys Who Became 
Famous.” Biographical sketches of Harriet Beecher Stowe, George Eliot, Helen 
Hunt Jackson, Harriet Ilosmer, Rosa Bonheur, Florence Nightingale, Maria 
Mitchell, and other eminent women. Illustrated with portraits. i2ino. $1.50. 

FAMOUS MEN OF SCIENCE. 

By Sarah K. Bolton. Short biographical sketches of Galileo, Newton, Lin¬ 
naeus, Cuvier, Humboldt, Audubon, Agassiz, Darwin, Buckland, and others. 
Illustrated with 15 portraits. i2mo. $1.50. 

FAMOUS AMERICAN STATESMEN. 

By Sarah K. Bolton. A companion book to “Famous American Authors.” 
Biographical sketches of Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Webster, 
Sumner, Garfield, and others. Illustrated with portraits. 121110. $1.50. 

FAMOUS ENGLISH STATESMEN. 

By Sarah K. Bolton. With portraits of Gladstone, John Bright, Robert 
Peel, Lord Palmerston, Lord Shaftesbury, William Edward Forster, Lord Beacons- 
field. i2mo. $1.50. 

FAMOUS EUROPEAN ARTISTS. 

By Sarah K. Boi.ton. With portraits of Raphael, Titian, Landseer, Reynolds, 
Rubens, Turner, and others. 121110. $1.50. 

FAMOUS AMERICAN AUTHORS. 

Bv Sarah K. Bolton. Short biographical sketches of Holmes, Longfellow, 
Emerson, Lowell, Aldrich, Mark Twain, and other noted writers. Illustrated with 
portraits. i2ino. $1.50. 

FAMOUS ENGLISH AUTHORS OF THE 19th CEN¬ 
TURY. 

By S a rah K. Bolton. With portraits of Scott, Burns, Carlyle, Dickens, Tenny¬ 
son, Robert Browning, etc. i2ino. $1.50. 

STORIES FROM LIFE. 

By Sarah K. Bolton. A book of short stories, charming and helpful. i2tno. 
$1.25. 


For sale by all boo 7 sellers. Send for catalogue. 

THOMAS Y. CROWELL 4 C0„ Publishers, Hew York. 

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